Bhubaneswar, March 20: Heavy vehicles in the state such as trucks, tractors, trailers, taxis and buses will soon have to have new retro reflective tapes on their bodies to ensure long-distance visibility and high standard reflectivity.

The glow of these reflective tapes with a layer of radium can be seen from a distance of one kilometre even in dusty conditions. They would make the vehicles visible and help reduce accidents, especially at night. Such tapes would even provide added protection on the highway.

These tapes will be made mandatory for all transport vehicles by the Bhubaneswar Regional Transport Office (RTO), which is likely to launch the drive from tomorrow.

Vehicle dealers will have to paste these reflective tapes on the vehicles before delivering them to customers.

“Manufacturers and dealers selling the vehicles will be instructed to fix the reflective tapes at the time of delivery of new vehicles. The vehicles will be considered for fitness certificates only if these tapes are stuck on them as per the prescribed standards,” said regional transport officer, Bhubaneswar region, Lal Mohan Sethy.

All vehicles need to obtain a fitness certificate before taking to the road. Similarly, existing vehicles need to replace the older yellow tapes on their bodies with the new ones and get those certified by the RTO office. The yellow tapes had limited visibility.

Sources at the RTO office in Bhubaneswar said that a Pune-based company would provide the tapes as per the specific standards.

“Though the exact cost of putting the tapes is yet to be ascertained, it is believed that it would cost around Rs 700 per vehicle. This cost will have to be borne by the vehicle owners,” said a senior official at the Bhubaneswar RTO.

The new standard tapes were made mandatory for all transport vehicles in 2009 as per the Central Motor Vehicles (CMV) Rules, 1989.

While states such as Maharashtra, Kerala and Gujarat have already implemented it, Odisha has lagged behind.

As per the prescribed standards, transport vehicles should have a white tape on the front fender, and a red one on the back. Besides, both sides of the vehicle should have yellow tapes.

According to the state transport official sources, most of the accidents during night occur due to less visibility. Instances of speeding vehicles colliding on to vehicles parked on roads at night are even more.

With a national highway passing through the city, the move will prove to be beneficial as many vehicles are parked on both sides of the highway at night.

“At night it becomes very difficult to locate the parked vehicles as most of them do not keep their rear lamps switched on,” said Parshuram Behera, a truck operator in the capital.

State transport secretary G.K Dhal said that the rules would be followed strictly.

“All the vehicles have to adhere to the norms present in the CMV Rules. This will certainly help in bringing down the number of accidents at night,” said Dhal.

At present, more than 7.5 lakh vehicles are registered under the Bhubaneswar RTO. This figure includes one lakh transport vehicles.