Two Wheelers auto headlamp to be made mandatory for safety and to reduce fatalities on road. Both motorcycles and scooters are set to get two new safety features which includes automatic headlamp on like DRL in cars from April 2017 and a sound device that can alert the people about any accident that takes place in their surroundings.
The new two wheelers having automatic headlight on (AHO) feature will not have any switch for the rider to turn it off and their headlights will turn on as soon as the engine is started. The road transport ministry after consulting with bike makers has finalized the norms with the objective to reduce crashes.
The Automotive Research Association of India ( ARAI) recently made a detailed presentation to transport minister Nitin Gadkari after the proposal was cleared by the panel which sets vehicle standards. They said the Supreme Court-appointed committee on road safety had also pushed the proposal considering the fact that AHO has been found beneficial in reducing crashes involving two-wheelers in many parts of the world. This has been a feature in European countries since 2003.
According to government data, two-wheelers as a single category of vehicles accounted for the highest number of fatal road crashes. Last year, 32,524 people were killed in crashes involving two-wheelers and another 1,27,452 people were suffered injuries.
Experts on automobile safety said AHO has improved conspicuity of two-wheelers during day and at dawn and dusk.
Transport ministry officials said they are now working on setting a new standard to have a feature in all vehicles, which can catch attention of people and traffic police so that they can come to rescue in case of any crash.
“In several cases, people trapped in vehicles in remote areas or off the main road don’t get help quickly. Unlike in other countries where the horn automatically starts when a vehicle meets with an accident and works as an alert. But here we need to have a different mechanism since automatic blowing of horn won’t sound abnormal to commuters or even traffic police.”
