Many people have installed cycle carriers on their cars during the lockdown, so as to enjoy cycling at good places. Beware, you can be fined.
Countrywide lockdown saw people sitting at their homes all day for nearly 3 months. Due to social distancing norms, the gyms and fitness centres have been closed. Parks are open but to avoid catching the infection, people are not going there. So, in the past few months, people have started buying cycles to enjoy it alone, without any risk.
The sales of cycles since the month of June has increased a lot. With that, people have now started installing cycle carriers at the back of their cars. If they do not have any cycling track or a park nearby, they load the cycles on the carrier and remove it after reaching the cycling place.
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The cycle carriers are installed on the bonnet, basically, making it a protruding accessory. However, recently, a man in Bengaluru was stopped by traffic policemen and fined Rs 5,000 for this! Most of the people might not know about this, but it actually is illegal and you can invoke a challan by installing it.
The explanation given by Bengaluru traffic policemen says that this is a modification done on the boot of the car. As per the rules, you can only install the standard carrier with the carrying capacity of only one cycle. The carrier should be permitted by RTO and should not have two bicycles attached.
In case of any car rear-ends the car with this carrier, the consequences could be even worse. Although, this makes parking, reversing and in-traffic driving for the owner very difficult. In summary, you can apply it but it should be the approved standard and not have more than 1 cycle.