[Aditya]

The Government of India is coming up with various plans to try and improve the miserable road safety record of the country. Among them is a proposal to make anti-lock braking systems (ABS) mandatory on two-wheelers. The feature will be made compulsory on bikes will larger engine capacities and later expanded to the mass market in a phased manner.

Two-wheelers account for the highest sare of accidents on Indian roads. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways opines that the inclusion of ABS will improve the stability of two-wheelers while braking, which in turn, will make them safer. Riders will be able to manoeuvre their vehicles much better under slippery conditions and hard braking with a lesser risk of skidding.

Europe has made ABS compulsory for all new bigger engine motorcycles from 2016-17. The Government of India plans to adopt a similar strategy.

While China is the world's largest bikes and scooters market, India, which lies in second place, has the fastest growing two-wheeler market with 17 million units produced last year. Manufacturers have refrained from offering ABS has it would increase the cost of the vehicles.

Source: ET Auto

[tbppjpr]

This is welcome move. ABS is rather more useful in the two wheelers than the four wheelers where its still a topic of debate if having ABS really improves 'safety' in the four wheelers.

Most of the casualties occur due to skidding after sudden braking in the two wheeleres. If two wheelers are equipped with ABS then skidding can be controlled to large extent.

[RavSam]

Wow!
Our government is on a safety roll or what!
Really a welcome move!
Here in Mumbai a little drizzle and the roads start becoming slippery leading to bikers falling off their bikes which start skidding due to low friction during braking.
Mixture of fluids like oil etc and mud on the roads make it one large carrom board.

[anilp]

Originally Posted by Aditya

Europe has made ABS compulsory for all new bigger engine motorcycles from 2016-17. The Government of India plans to adopt a similar strategy.

Very progressive move considering how many of the high powered bikes get sold in India without ABS. They should extend this to cars too. I just hope that import duty cuts for bikes is also in the offing.

[bharat.joshi]

Indeed a welcome move but why leave out the mass market motorcycles?

I just feel they should concentrate more on making helmets mandatory through out the country as a priority than having to put more guidelines on manufacturers. Personally I feel they are going towards an easier target than the mass number two wheeler riders.

But then again we do have a transport minister who chose not to wear a helmet while riding his scooter.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by bharat.joshi

Indeed a welcome move but why leave out the mass market motorcycles?

Mass market motorcycles will be dealt with in a phased manner. Obviously it won't be possible for every manufacturer to design and produce low cost ABS systems so soon.

Anyways, a huge welcome move.

And regarding helmets- both these rules target different audiences. ABS is easier to implement at the manufacturer level while helmet will require a lot of enforcement initiatives.

As a member mentioned in another thread earlier today- 'safety is a culture'. We can enforce it overnight.

[Silverflash]

Personally, I'd be obliged if the government first took care of more basic safety issues like:

1. Creating and maintaining proper, 21st century quality roads for us to use

2. Making full-face helmets mandatory on all two wheelers

3. Creating a sport category license, and making it mandatory before buying bikes above a certain BHP/tonne rating

If they can do these things (which are more a part of their existing job), they can leave ABS to the manufacturers and bikers to decide. Right now, they seem to be taking the most oblique way to ensure safety.

Just my opinion, of course.

[MHG]

This news just made my day!

I just pinched myself to confirm I am not dreaming since I am opening this page minutes after waking up!

What does the government mean by "higher capacity" ? Why are we still using engine displacement to measure power ? They should use kilowatt figures instead. Make ABS mandatory above 10KW!

[B O V]

Quite a welcome move I must say.Although it will take time to trickle down to the 100cc commuter motorcycles(in lieu of the cost parameters under which these motorcycles are manufactured).Still a very good move.

Regarding the topic of helmets.Well it should come from the rider,I mean He/She should wear a helmet for His/Her own safety and not because someone is forcing them to do so.

Originally Posted by Silverflash

Creating a sport category license

+1 to this.I strongly agree.Especially since there are very quick motorcycles like the duke twins out now(at relatively affordable prices).Quite easy for a newbie rider to plonk his/her bottom down on the seat and twist the throttle away to glory getting himself/herself seriously injured.

[Silverflash]

Originally Posted by B O V

Regarding the topic of helmets.Well it should come from the rider,I mean He/She should wear a helmet for His/Her own safety and not because someone is forcing them to do so.

Strongly disagree with that, BOV - that's like saying wearing seatbelts should be left to the discretion of the driver. The only way to build a culture of safety in our kind of society is to mandate it, and crack down on non-conformance until it gets drilled into peoples' heads.

+1 to this.I strongly agree.Especially since there are very quick motorcycles like the duke twins out now(at relatively affordable prices).Quite easy for a newbie rider to plonk his/her bottom down on the seat and twist the throttle away to glory getting himself/herself seriously injured.

Yeah, one of the RC threads here had pics of not one but TWO test bikes having been crashed. We're going to see more, I'm pretty sure.

My worry is that the government will end up doing nothing until the toll mounts alarmingly, and then doing something predictable knee-jerk like raising taxes on bikes above a certain category, or something equally stupid. Let's see.

[B O V]

Originally Posted by Silverflash

Strongly disagree with that

You mistook what I meant.What I meant was that the initiative comes from the person.Sure,the government can try to improve things with strict fines for lawbreakers But in a country where most of the people use 2 wheelers for their regular commute.Is it really possible for the authorities to crack down on all the defaulters?

I perfectly understand what you say though.Yes in our country it seems that some people prefer to do things such as donning helmets/wearing seatbelts in order to avoid fines rather than for their own safety.

[adrian]

ABS may help you from a low side but what is being done to educate the riders in India to use the front brakes as primary. Ask any number of riders in India and they would advise you to stay clear of front brakes! Most accidents I have seen are high sides where the rider jammed the rear brakes, skidded sideways and released the brakes to correct the skid. Scary sight to see the rider looking like a matador clinging on to a mad bull.
regards adrian

[Silverflash]

Originally Posted by B O V

You mistook what I meant.What I meant was that the initiative comes from the person.Sure,the government can try to improve things with strict fines for lawbreakers But in a country where most of the people use 2 wheelers for their regular commute.Is it really possible for the authorities to crack down on all the defaulters?

Fair enough, then. I agree that it should come from within, but a lot of people don't know any better / don't care either way.

Yes, it absolutely is possible to crack down on it. Let the cops spend a week confiscating the bikes of every helmetless rider, and forcing them to go to court to pay a fine to retrieve the bike, and watch how quick things turn. In our country, that is the only language the masses understand.

[Ph03nix]

+2
This is an excellent move. I still carry around a big scar on my elbow from college days from a skidding accident involving a Pulsar. Those darn disc brakes lock up very easily.

What would work better is the combi brake feature from the activa. I recently started driving gear-less scooters(after getting married ) . It's so simple yet so effective. When driving a car you don't brake each wheel independently do you.

When braking it's better to use all the available traction on the bike than just having ABS on one wheel or another. Wish that is made madatory as well.

[Sutripta]

Continental has produced a low cost (single channel) system for bikes. Now in the Indian context, where will this be fitted front or rear!

On a more serious note, car and bike dynamics are very different, and implementation on a bike requires a lot of careful thought. I hope in the need to meet statutory requirements crap (and unsafe) systems are not fitted.

Regards
Sutripta