Rear parking sensors to be made compulsory on all Indian cars

Rear parking sensors or rear view cameras will soon be made compulsory for all new cars sold in the country. This announcement was made by Mr. Abhay Damle, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. The step is being taken to control the increasing number of cases of small children and pedestrians getting injured due to reversing vehicles.

According to the Government, studies have revealed that though the IRVM and ORVMs give an idea about the vehicles behind one's car, smaller obstacles as well as children are often not visible through these mirrors. The presence of reverse parking sensors can alert the driver of a hindrance while reversing, thus avoiding any accidents that may occur due to blind spots at the rear.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) is expected to issue a notification directing all manufacturers to offer reverse parking sensors as standard on all cars, even in the base models. No specific time window has yet been announced for implementing this new rule.

The Government is also planning to make speed warning systems compulsory on all cars. This is being done to curb what is believed to be the biggest cause of accidents - over-speeding.