[predatorwheelz]

Originally Posted by esteem_lover

I guess people drive in reverse in Gujarat, why else would anyone need a reflector sticker on his headlamps ?

Hehe, good one. I remember having exactly the same thought the first time I landed in Ahmedabad and saw the cars plying on the road

[razor4077]

Now that's complete bull. Just another income mechanism in the police business model.
I wonder why we cannot have uniform traffic laws around the country.

[Rudra Sen]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

I have faced this problem only if I go into Ahmedabad city, but not in the rest of the highways of Gujarat. My Scorpio too now has a permanent yellow sticker - last time I was in Ahmedabad, I was harassed by every cop at every junction, and I had to tip my way through and finally dodged the cops and ran to the accessories shop (thanks to Ramky and Joy) to buy the yellow sticker.

I faced the same problem in Punjab, and have paid through my nose to thwart off the harassment by Punjab cops, who are definitely the worst of their kind in India, along with cops from Tamil Nadu.

But your car is only passing those towns and cities and has different state's registration number..

[Torqy]

Originally Posted by esteem_lover

I guess people drive in reverse in Gujarat, why else would anyone need a reflector sticker on his headlamps ?

When the entire country is going in reverse, why pick Gujarat?

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

Stickers, paint etc are not required as per the Motor Vehicle Act of 1989. In fact they amount to interfering with the safety equipment of the vehicle.

The Motor Vehicle Act 1989 and the Central Motor Vehicles Rules 1988 were amended and updated repeatedly, the MVA in 2001, and CMVR in 2005, by the Ministry of Shipping, Transport and Highways. Apart from these, there is a parallel set of archaic rules under the aegis of the State govts., which hardly get amended on a regular basis. In Gujarat, the Gujarat Motor Vehicles Rules 1989 has some stupid section that still persists with the yellow anti-glare paint - and the cop capitalises on it. Delhi MV Rules has a section on etching the car's registration no. on all the glasses (not enforced - DL Traffic Police have too much to do anyway). WB MV Rules says a special tax has to be paid separately for having ICE or AC while driving in the state. Not enforced except during renewal of registration, when everybody first removes the ICE and then appears at the MVD.

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by Rudra Sen

But your car is only passing those towns and cities and has different state's registration number..

Try telling this to the cops!
But the problem is only when you go into the towns - I have had no problem in Gujarat highways, but once you get into A'Bad city, the cops start harassing you. In Punjab, I have been harassed on the highways at night on this pretext.

But yes, as you said, these rules may not apply to out-of-state vehicles.

[aaggoswami]

Originally Posted by ASHISHPALLOD

How exactly does this yellow sticker help? i am sure, even mr. Modi don't know.

Originally Posted by JayD

I've seen this stickeer in some GM cars which some mags have tested. I used to wonder what these were! Can someone tell me what purpose does this serve??

That is to reduce the glare on oncoming vehicles at night. Generally, I have seen even highly educated people dont have any knowledge of low beam or high beam. What all they know is to see that blue light indicator ON at night.
The common man and the common driver is not able to understand so that is the reason for this law, again which is not very useful.
But it does help a bit.
GM cars are from Halol, near Vadodara so they have this.

Originally Posted by hvkumar

I have faced this problem only if I go into Ahmedabad city, but not in the rest of the highways of Gujarat. My Scorpio too now has a permanent yellow sticker - last time I was in Ahmedabad, I was harassed by every cop at every junction, and I had to tip my way through and finally dodged the cops and ran to the accessories shop (thanks to Ramky and Joy) to buy the yellow sticker.

Originally Posted by predatorwheelz

I have stayed in Ahmedabad for about 2 years. Every car sold there comes with a yellow sticker pasted on the outer side of the headlights. It carries the name of the dealer who sold the car. Its a surefire way of checking whether the car is originally from Gujarat.

A car registered outside Gujarat will obviously not carry yellow stickers. The cops are wrong in charging money for it.

One never faces this problem in Vadodara, but A'bad I know. What I wonder is why such strict implementation for only one city. Even in cities like Saurashtra, Rajkot the rule is not so strictly implemented. Basically almost all our relatives are at A'bad and so I know the general firmness about this rule.

Rest assured, the cops, though they capitalize on this, dont ask for too much money, and are relatively off with a few arguments.
But they are wrong in asking money from a car which is from other state.

Originally Posted by esteem_lover

I guess people drive in reverse in Gujarat, why else would anyone need a reflector sticker on his headlamps ?

If thats the criteria, then tell who in India drives properly ?

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by Rajesh Rawal

the only logic of the yellow sticker i can think of is to avoid those blind glares to the others while one drives with high beames.

Originally Posted by aaggoswami

That is to reduce the glare on oncoming vehicles at night. Generally, I have seen even highly educated people dont have any knowledge of low beam or high beam. What all they know is to see that blue light indicator ON at night.
The common man and the common driver is not able to understand so that is the reason for this law, again which is not very useful.
But it does help a bit.

Not really required. All modern headlamps already have a covering over the bulb which negates the need for this yellow or black strip/spot.

This may have been useful in the Amby days when the bulb was not covered inside the lamp unit.

It will also be useful for all the Jeeps, Tata and Leyland trucks that still use the old headlamps.

[DHABHAR.BEHRAM]

Whenever I visit Gujarat, I put a yellow sticker which I take from my numberplatewallah. But the real funny part is that I paste it JUST OUTSIDE the headlamp reflector area (in the Scorpio it is possible) and drive right next to all the cops. See, no problemo saar! HaHaHa. I remove it as soon as I leave Gujarat as my car looks dirty with it.

Best regards,

Behram Dhabhar

[diabloo]

Originally Posted by F50

Tell me, how that narrow yellow strip reduces glare?

Originally Posted by aaggoswami

That is to reduce the glare on oncoming vehicles at night.

I guess this insanity will stop when a sane man gets to head the traffic police.

[aaggoswami]

Originally Posted by diabloo

Tell me, how that narrow yellow strip reduces glare?

I guess this insanity will stop when a sane man gets to head the traffic police.

Earlier the strip was quite narrow. But recently the strip is wider. Our Maruti 800 had almost 20% headlamp covered by this strip. We removed it, but thats a different thing.

Our Baleno has a wider strip that the one in Octavia shown in picture. It helps, but very very less. Its more prominent when one is nearing the vehicle with that has glaring headlights ON.
When the distance is more, its meaning less.

@Steer:

Yes, and now since many years, generally cars have some glass umbrella sort of thing instead of that black color on bulb. Even our Baleno has those kind of headlamps. So these yellow strips are not necessary any more.

But can I remove that black color and those umbrella sort of caps from headlamps. I had tried removing black color on 800's bulb, but the bulb broke.

[DHABHAR.BEHRAM]

Dear aaggoswami - just for information, on a friend's Indica, I removed the aluminium cover which is there on the headlight bulb and then fitted 140/110 watts original GE made in Belgium bulbs (900 rupees for 2 bulbs) with all finolex wires and bosch relays. The headlights were absolutely fantastic. I COULD SEE THE ROAD. It is as simple as that. And yes, that car had the yellow strip stuck just outside the headlamp area as well.

Best regards,

Behram Dhabhar

[Lalvaz]

Nothing but a money making racket. These yellow strips wont help one bit in reducing glare. Total waste of time, money and effort. Someone should really take the Ahmedabad cops to court on this issue.

[dadu]

I remember the horizontal half headlight blackened at the top in UP, Delhi and punjab earlier, but not about this.

hvk, did the punjab cops trouble you for this or for halk black headlight ??

Which other states is this yellow sticker valid for ?? this will be a good Database here for people travelling interstate.

[Ice]

Originally Posted by Steeroid

Not really required. All modern headlamps already have a covering over the bulb which negates the need for this yellow or black strip/spot.

Very true. Most new-age cars' headlamps allow only vertical focusing of headlamps. The earlier provisions for horizontal (right-left) focusing have been removed, to prevent people from focusing their headlights at the on-coming traffic.

Also, aren't the yellow strip, horizontal black strip on top half of headlamp, and the central black dot all excuses for cops to not police high-beam drivers? In the US, drivers driving on high-beam in the presence of on-coming traffic are ticketed. Can't something similar be done here? Mete out strict punishment for habitual high-beam dwellers.