Use flag on vehicle with caution

Islamabad: As our independence is round the corner, there is much enthusiasm regarding its celebrations and twin cities markets are flooded with flags, decorative caps, glasses, badges etc. to attract customers. The children are most keen to buy each and every thing displayed on the stalls and coax their parents to buy T-shirts, flags, buntings etc. for August 14th Independence Day celebrations.

Displaying flags is a popular way for vehicle owners to show their support and enthusiasm for the Independence Day. This can include hoisting flags on the bumper of the vehicle, motor cycles, buses, trucks, etc. in support of patriotism.

These flags easily grab the attention of others as they drive by flapping in the wind, and their sizes can vary almost as much as four to five feet. There is nothing illegal about these flags and they are easily found attached to personal vehicles as long as they do not obstruct the view of or interfere with the driver. If a flag is large, it would wrap around the front of a windshield and obstruct the driver's view, it would then be considered a safety issue, and that driver would be in constant driving threat. Most commonly these flags are mounted back windshield or just above a vehicle's doors and do not pose a safety issue.

Farhan Ahmed a student, while speaking to this scribe said that he recently witnessed a car reversing and having an accident with the rear vehicle just because the driver could not figure out the distance with the car coming from behind because he had wrapped a huge flag at the rear-windshield glass. Ahmed Shahbaz said that his neighbour had this incident that the flag wrapped around the rear tire of the motorcycle.

He fell on the main road because the motorcycle came to a sudden halt. Luckily, he escaped unharmed because of less traffic. But imagine having the same accident on heavy and speedy traffic, he would have met serious injuries. Who does not like the flags fluttering on the vehicle with the wind, but the flag should not obstruct the driver’s view.

Patriotism has no limits and one can display it at ones’ discretion but posing a threat for someone is not appreciable. There are some common sense limits to what can be publicly displayed without posing threat to anyone and the drivers should adhere to those limits.