Brakes will be applied on scenes of bike racing and rash driving in Bollywood movies if the Maharashtra transport commissioner has his way.

Alarmed by a spate of accidents involving speeding bikes, Transport Commissioner S.D. Shinde has asked the Censor Board of India to delete scenes of bike racing and rash driving from films.

"I want bike and car racing scenes to be banned in movies since the youth is trying to ape the actors' stunts. This only leads to accidents as these youths have no expertise and are not capable of handling such powerful bikes," he said.

"Films like 'Dhoom 2' encourage rash driving and bike racing," Shinde told on the sidelines of the Road Safety Week observed by the transport department Jan 1-8.

"That is why I have written to the censor board, asking them to delete such scenes from the movies," he added.

According to him, 85 percent of road accidents are due to the driver's fault and 70 percent of two-wheeler mishaps are because of speeding.

Statistics available with the Mumbai traffic police show that the number of offences by two-wheeler riders have doubled since 2003 and the number of two-wheeler accidents since then have more then trebled.

Though the city's traffic department approves of the move, Bollywood directors are far from amused. Films without thrills and action don't sell, they argue.

While Sanjay Dalvi, who directed two blockbusters - "Dhoom" and "Dhoom 2" - preferred not to comment, another director, who did not wish to be named, called the proposed move "just another cheap publicity gimmick".

"Wanting some cheap publicity, the department has come up with such a stupid idea. How can films sell if there are no thrills and action scenes? And what about Hollywood action movies, will they delete such scenes too?" he asked.

"We must just ignore such suggestions from the transport department," he added.