Motorcycle with 4-year-old child as pillion can’t exceed 40 kmph speed: New govt norm

The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has issued new guidelines keeping in mind the safety of kids up to four years of age riding on a bike as a pillion rider. The measures have been taken after cases of road accidents in which children suffer injuries because there were no norms to ensure parents or whosoever riding the bike take safety measures for kids.

The new notification will come into force after one year from the date of publication of the Central Motor Vehicles (Second Amendment) Rules, 2022.

“For children below four years, a safety harness shall be used for attaching the child to the driver of the motorcycle,” the new notification says.

Elaborating about the safety harness, the notification says, “Safety harness is a vest to be worn by the child, which shall be adjustable, with a pair of straps attached to the vest and forming shoulder loops to be worn by the driver. This way, the upper torso of the child is securely attached to the driver.”

It adds, “A feature by which this is achieved is by attaching the straps to the back of the vest and crossing the straps over the vest so that two large crossing-over loops are formed that pass between the legs of the passenger and child sits on the seat of the two-wheeler. The protective gear including Safety harness shall meet the following requirements till such time the specifications are prescribed by the Bureau of Indian Standards under the Bureau of Indian Standards Act.”

The notification makes crash helmet mandatory and says that the driver shall ensure that the child pillion passenger aged between nine months and four years must wear his own crash helmet which fits his head or wear a bicycle helmet

“The speed of the motorcycle with the child up to age four years being carried as a pillion, shall not be more than 40 kmph,” it said.