Social media reels promoting road rule violations under lens

The police and the Motor Vehicles department (MVD) have intensified cyber patrol to track social media accounts which are being misused to promote reels containing dangerous driving habits and traffic rule violations.

In the past three weeks alone, over 110 motorbikes used for the production of such reels were identified across the State to initiate legal action.

According to police sources, 28 persons who either drove the vehicles or worked behind the social media uploading of dangerous rides have been booked. A total of ₹1.27 lakh was collected as fine amount from them, they said.

“The violators were only concerned with attracting more followers for their social media pages. In many cases, the stunt activities for the reels were held in the middle of overcrowded roads,” said an Assistant Motor Vehicles Inspector who was part of the checking drive. He added that there were even underage riders who were lured by social media publicity of such reel makers.<SU>

Police officers said the reels uploaded on Instagram and Facebook revealed the magnitude of danger they caused for other motorists.

In some cases, the police have come across attempts by reel producers to mask the registration number of vehicles. There are also attempts to upload illegally made reels using fake social media accounts created in the name of celebrities and popular riders.

“We are also conducting aggressive road checking to track motorbikes with altered number plates. Over 20 such racing vehicles fitted with foldable number plates have already been tracked from various north Kerala districts,” said an Assistant Commissioner of Police. He added that alterations in number plates were made to evade CCTV cameras and field-level checking squads.

Noticing the cyber patrol drives, many social media users have also started tagging police and MVD squads on seeing such violations in the name of making reels. Many such flagged cases are under investigation.