Soon, Riding A Motorcycle With Children As Pillion, Without Due Safety Gear, Will Attract Penalties

Driving two-wheelers with children below four years as pillion at more than 40 kmph will be treated as a traffic rule violation, according to the Road Transport Ministry.

The Ministry has proposed a draft rule keeping in mind the safety of children. It has also proposed that the driver must ensure that child pillion passengers aged between nine months and four years must wear crash helmets and safety harnesses.

It has issued the draft notification to amend the Central Motor Vehicle Rules to comply with the latest change in the Central Motor Vehicles Act.

Violation of these norms attract a fine of Rs 1,000 and suspension of driving licence for three months.

According to the draft notification, the driver of a motorcycle in which there is a pillion rider below four years, safety harness has to be used for attaching the child to the driver.

Safety harness has been defined as an adjustable vest to be worn by the child 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. 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," the draft notification said.

The protective gear including safety harness has to be lightweight, adjustable, waterproof and durable. This must be made of heavy nylon or multifilament nylon material with high density foam and shall be designed to hold weight up to 30 kg.

The Ministry said once the final notification is issued after consultation with stakeholders, there will be a one-year period to start the enforcement of the rule.

Currently, there is no specific data on how many children below four years die in road crashes in India. The government collates data from all states and puts all children in one age group below 18 years.