‘Protruding rods have been banned’

NEWDELHI: Protruding metal rods in a truck claimed the life of three AIIMS doctors and injured four of their colleagues on Saturday.

The brutality of the incident becomes even more stark, when experts argue that such deaths and accidents could have been avoided if the ban on protruding rods in vehicles had been implemented and officials maintained proper vigil.

According to Piyush Tewari, founder and CEO of the Save Life Foundation (SLF), the government had essentially banned vehicles carrying protruding rods as of March 2015 by removing Section 93(b) of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules of 1989.

The clause, reportedly, allowed vehicles to carry open rods “so long as the projecting part or parts do not exceed the distance of one metre beyond the rear most point of the motor vehicle,”. The clause was misused.

“However, the problem was that the prosecution was only a fine of ₹100,” said Tewari.

After a Right To Information reply in 2012, that said that around 9,000 people are killed because of such protruding rods every year, the SLF had filed a PIL at the Supreme Court asking that trucks, other than flatbed trucks, should not ferry such protruding rods , among other demands.

“The Lok Sabha had passed the Motor Vehicles Act (Amendment) Bill in April 2017, which increased the fine to up to ₹5,000 and it is currently in the Rajya Sabha. We withdrew our PIL saying that we can re-file if the government fails to implement the law,” he said.