All public carrier vehicles to sport reflective tape after high court order

BENGALURU: The increasing number of road accidents, especially at night prompted the High Court of Karnataka to direct the Transport Department to ensure that reflective tapes are mandatorily stuck on public carrier vehicles. The reflective tape helps identify vehicles ahead of a motorist during night time.

Transport Department Additional Commissioner Mallikarjuna said they are working hard to reduce the number of road accidents, but the measures haven’t helped much. Thus, the High Court has ordered the Transport Department to ensure reflective tape on the vehicles. Therefore, all public carrier vehicles must have retro-reflective tape or else their Fitness Certificate (FC) will not be renewed, he warned.

The officer further said, “The Central government also ordered that reflective tape be pasted on all transport vehicles as per Central Motor Vehicle Rule-104. According to this order, white tape should be stuck at the front of the vehicle, yellow tape on the rear and red tape on the sides. These tapes help motorists identify vehicles at night and thereby reduce the number of accidents.