No rules, all risks: Cars with tinted windows, no number plates become new norm on Hyderabad roads

This unchecked violation not only challenges the authorities' plan to strictly enforce the mandatory HSRP rule but also poses several other dangers.

Hyderabad: At a time when the Telangana Transport Department is stressing that all vehicle owners must mandatorily have High Security Registration Plates (HSRP) attached to their vehicles, the number of vehicles plying on city roads without any number plates is on the rise.

This unchecked violation not only challenges the authorities’ plan to strictly enforce the mandatory HSRP rule but also poses several other dangers.

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While tracing such vehicles in cases of accidents or crimes becomes difficult, penalising them for traffic violations is also a challenge.

Meanwhile, there is also a spike in the number of complaints on online platforms and forums about the increasing number of cars with tinted windows and no number plates.

Those posting about the violations have observed that such instances have grown in the last 6–12 months, raising questions about the traffic police’s inaction.

In one such post on Reddit, a user u/deepoops shared a photo of a car—a white Hyundai Verna—plying on a road at Chitrapuri in Hyderabad, with fully tinted windows and no number plate.
The post read: “Fully tinted car with no number plates (near Chitrapuri) I was tempted to bump into his car and see if he comes out. (Sic)”

Fully tinted car with no number plates (near chitrapuri)
byu/deepoops inhyderabad

Responding to it, another Reddit user, u/Visual-Run-4718, asked: “Has anyone noticed the recent surge in the number of vehicles without number plates? Nen only AP lo avtondi ankunna. This wasn’t common even 6 months ago.”

Another user, u/rogueck, wrote in Telugu (in English script): Kothaga chustunama bro idi, roju 50 cars anna chustam itla, manam kelukkolem, police ollu aaparu. Ilanti cars ki dooram undadam manaki safe.. mana family ki safe — roughly translating to: “This is new, we see at least 50 such cars a day. We can’t question them and the police don’t. It is better to stay away from such cars—for our safety and our family’s safety.”

Residents of the city taking to social media platforms to express their concern about traffic violations in Hyderabad is now alarmingly common. However, the traffic police in the tri-commissionerates of Cyberabad, Hyderabad, and Rachakonda seem to be taking little to no action to curb violators.

Wrong-side driving, irregular number plates, helmet-less riding, and more than two people on two-wheelers are just some of the many violations now common on Hyderabad roads. As a result, driving in the city has become no less taxing than a tense game of chess.