Mumbai: Yes, poking head out of car's sunroof is an offence

Mumbai: The video of a woman sticking her head out of a moving car’s sunroof on Thursday quickly went viral on Twitter. It was even tagged to the traffic police's handle, after which they directed the local Bandra traffic police for stringent action.

However, many citizens still remain unaware of the traffic rules with regards to sunroofs and whether it's even legal or not to stand through a sunroof of a moving car.

Putting head or body out of (moving) car’s sunroof is an offence

Talking to The Free Press Journal, the Bandra-Worli Sea Link Traffic Police Inspector P Kamble said, “According to the Motor Vehicles (MV) Act, putting the head or body out of a (moving) car’s sunroof is considered an offense and violation of traffic rules.” Not many know about this, but this rule is not only applicable to vehicles traveling on the sea link but also to motorists on city roads, he underlined, adding that the act can lead to an investigation along with fine.

He further said, “The basic use of the sunroof is to let sunlight into cars, but when people put their head or body outside, it can block the vision of others hence leading to any other mishaps.

According to the MV Act's section 184 (f), driving in any manner that falls far below what would be expected of a competent and careful driver and where it would be obvious that driving in that manner would be dangerous would be punishable. 

Earlier there have also been cases of glass-coated 'manja' or kite thread incidentally slitting the throats of people poking their heads out of a moving four-wheeler.