Government to make permanently lit headlamps compulsory

The two-wheelers sold in India will have permanently lit automatic headlamps, starting next year. The Government has passed a regulation requiring all the two-wheelers sold after April 2017 to have this safety feature as standard.

While not many countries have such laws, it is common practise among motorcycle manufacturers to voluntarily offer permanently lit headlamps, when it comes to large capacity motorcycles. This feature has proven to be very effective in avoiding accidents, especially head-on collisions. Recently, KTM started offering the India-spec 2016 RC390 equipped with permanently lit headlamps, while the Hero Splendor iSmart 110 will be the first commuter motorcycle to don this safety feature, once it is launched here. 

Usually, manufacturers hook up the motorcycle's low beam headlamp to illuminate whenever the engine is running. As such, implementing this feature in existing products isn’t a very challenging task. However, manufacturers might have to upgrade the batteries on the motorcycles and scooters to compensate for the extra power consumption.