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ShareThe traffic police on Wednesday denied media reports that playing music in vehicles has been banned on the grounds that high volume causes distraction for drivers.
"How can we clamp a ban on listening to music in cars? Music is kind of a lifeline for the men behind the wheels," said joint commissioner of police (Traffic) Sanjay Barve.
The thumb rule followed by traffic policemen is that if a car is at a 15-feet distance from the policeman and he still can listen to the music from it loudly, then the driver can be booked. In such cases, the decibel levels would be above 45.
"But if the driver puts music at this high volume, it will be actually be difficult for him to listen to it. Moreover, our traffic policemen do not stand with decibel metres. It's difficult to keep a watch on cars with very loud music," said Barve.
According to Barve, since the traffic police have tie-ups with several radio channels, banning music in cars is out of question. "Radio channels are an important means for us to give out traffic updates," he said.
Traffic policemen claimed to have booked a few drivers playing music on high volume in their cars in the past several years. However, no data of this has been maintained.
According to Section 190 (2) of the Motor Vehicles Act, "any person who drives or causes or allows to be driven in any public place or a motor vehicle, which violates the standards prescribed in relation to road safety, control of noise and air-pollution, shall be punishable for the first offence with a fine of Rs1,000 and for any second or subsequent offence with a fine of Rs2,000."
The law is largely used for continuous and loud honking.
