The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has made several changes to the Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989, which will come into force from April 2021. The amended rules will allow vehicles to do away with the requirement of having an extra tyre in the vehicle. The ministry said in a statement that if the vehicle has an in-built tyre pressure monitoring system (TPMS) and a tyre repair kit provided by the automobile company, then they don’t need to keep an extra tyre.
The tyre repair kit, the ministry said, should be able to seal punctures in a tubeless tyre. “The requirement of the additional tyres has been done away with in such vehicles if provided with the Tyre repair kit and TPMS has been provided. This is as per the international standards which will enable more space which may accommodate batteries for EVs (electric vehicles) etc.,” the ministry said in a statement.
The specification for the tyre pressure monitoring system (TPMS) for vehicles up to maximum mass of 3.5 Tonnes should be able to monitor the inflation pressure of the tyre or its variation while the vehicle is running and transmit information to the driver, thereby providing advance information to the driver and enhancing road safety.
The ministry has also prescribed safety glazing conforming to standards on glasses of vehicles. Safety glazing makes the glass harder to break and safer if it does break.
“However, the percentage of visual transmission of light for the front and rear windows (70%) and side windows (50%) shall be the same for the safety glass on the glass with safety glazing,” the ministry added.
The ministry also said that the amendments prescribe standards for external projection requirements on two wheelers to reduce lacerations to pedestrian as well as rider in case of contact with moving vehicle. The standard prescribes that all the points of contact with the testing device shall have minimum prescribed radius or made up of soft material.
The amendments also allow a pillion rider on two wheelers that have a lightweight container placed behind the pillion rider space.