Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is planning to implement new safety measures for buses and other transport vehicles in India. The safety measures are likely to echo with international safety standards for transport vehicles and are likely to include the inclusion of Electronic Stability Control (ESC) and other Brake Assist systems.
The notification on the same was issued last year by MoRTH and the authority is likely to bring the new safety measure in April 2023. While other safety measures such as seat belt reminder on both driver and passenger seats, over-speed alert, reverse parking sensors, driver side airbag and ABS (Anti-lock Braking System) were made compulsory last year, MoRTH is also likely to roll out tyre pressure monitoring system (TPMS) mandatory for a certain category of vehicles from October 2020.
In the recent past, MoRTH has also published a Gazette Notification related to Motor Vehicle Legislation under draft GSR 103 (E) to further amend the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, (CMVR) 1989, under which permanent grab rails as per IS: 14495-1998 specifications shall be provisioned on the side or behind the rider’s seat and in addition a footrest, complying with the requirements specified in AIS 148:2018, along with a safety device that covers at least half the wheel shall also be provisioned.
Also, M1 category vehicles i.e. all passenger vehicles with a seating capacity of 9 persons and up to a maximum mass of 3.5 Tonnes, if fitted with Tubeless Tyres and provided with a Tyre Repair Kit as standard, such vehicles need not be provided with a spare wheel. Both the abovementioned rule will take effect from 1st October 2020.
With effect from October 2021, the new amendment also includes the use of safety glass or safety glazing conforming to IS 2553 (Part 2) (Revision 1): 2019 according to which the windscreen of glass windows of every motor vehicle including agricultural tractors, combine harvester, construction equipment shall be of safety glass of glazing equipment.
