Hanging an air freshener from your rear-view mirror could land you £1,000 fine

Motorists in Britain could land themselves a hefty fine for simply hanging an air freshener from the rear-view mirror in their car.

In fact, hanging anything from fluffy dice to a flag from the mirror could also land you the fine and penalty points on your driving licence.

What’s more, you could even land the same fine for placing a sticker on your windscreen or incorrectly placing your sat nav.

Driving with any kind of obstruction on your vehicle’s windows or windscreen can drastically limit your field of view.

This could impede reaction times and even cause an accident if it is distracting the motorist.

However, it is not illegal to have decorations in your cars or on your windscreen nut it must follow a set of rules.

If it can be deemed to prevent you from having a full view of the road then you could and an on-the-spot fine of £100 and three penalty points on your licence.

This fine can increase to £1,000 if your case is taken to court.

The Highway Code outlines that “windscreens and windows MUST be kept clean and free from obstructions to vision.”

The Road Traffic Act states “no person shall drive a motor vehicle on a road if he is in such a position that he cannot … have a full view of the road and traffic ahead.”

Rebecca Ashton, IAM RoadSmart head of driver behaviour, said to The Sun: “Anything hanging from the rear-view mirror or anything placed on the windscreen could restrict the drivers view, things people use tend to vary from air fresheners and dice hanging from the mirror to fans, large sat-navs and even using the navigation on an iPad.

“Missing something because you had something obscuring your view could potentially be extremely dangerous, good driving involves exceptional observation skills, seeing things early allows you to anticipate and plan how you deal with hazards.

“We would suggest it is placed low on the windscreen, on the right-hand side and if possible within the area where the windscreen wipers don’t clear.

“The main thing to remember is you should always try to avoid the driver’s field of vision.”

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