Government to tighten vehicle lighting rules: bicycles with low beam only and reduced glare from headlights

NEW DELHI: Automatic headlights on two-wheelers will soon work only in dipped beam (low beam) mode, and buses and other heavy vehicles will have to use genuine reflective tapes to improve visibility at night and in bad weather. In addition, the use of high intensity headlights will be restricted in all vehicle categories to stop glare, which causes visual discomfort or impairs the vision of other road users.The Road Transport Ministry has proposed these changes, among others, through draft amendments to the Central Motor Vehicle Rules, and the new safety norms will come into force from next April. The changes in motor vehicle regulations are due to the fact that efforts to persuade drivers and sensitize them on the need to use the low beam mode have not yielded the desired results.The norms on automatic headlamps would be applicable only for new and non-existing two-wheelers. Currently, the Automatic Headlight On (AHO) system can activate low beam and high beam modes depending on the vehicle configuration. The proposed rule requires that when the automatic system is active, the headlight will be on low beam.As for high intensity headlamps, the maximum permissible intensity has been reduced from 1.5 lakh candela or cd (official base unit of luminous intensity) to 1 lakh cd for two-wheelers. The maximum permissible intensity for 4-wheeled vehicles (cars) has been reduced from 2.25 lakh cd to 1.5 lakh cd.According to studies, the white light emitted by headlights and front fog lights with higher color temperatures causes significant glare, causing discomfort and reducing the visibility of other road users. To address this issue, the maximum allowable color temperature has been restricted to 6500 Kelvin (K).It has also been proposed that the mounting height of the main beam headlights should be equivalent to that prescribed for the dipped headlights.These measures target one of the leading causes of nighttime road accidents in India: drivers using high beams in urban areas, which can temporarily blind motorists approaching from the opposite direction, reducing visibility and increasing the risk of accidents.TOI has learned that the next-generation system will also include an audio alert to discourage unnecessary use of high beam mode on urban roads. If a driver manually switches to high beams in urban conditions, the vehicle will prompt them to switch back to low beams.However, the alert will be speed sensitive. Drivers traveling on highways at speeds above 60 km/h will not receive the warning, as it may be necessary to use high beam mode on poorly lit highway sections. The feature aims to promote safer driving behavior in urban areas while ensuring that highway driving is not adversely affected, officials said.The draft amendments also revise lighting requirements in all vehicle categories. In addition to restricting the use of automatic headlights to low beam mode, they update the standards for high-end headlights with adaptive low beam and adaptive high beam.