Bright as a bulb

Here are the top three reasons why every motorcyclist who wants to get home every day should garner as much attention as he can

Words: Aninda Sardar

So what’s all this fuss about auto headlamps? Ask any motorcyclist with an ounce of grey matter where it should be and you’ll realise this one’s been a no-brainer for years. Truth is, we are much too late with this, but as the wise men say, better late than never. Come April 2017 and motorcycles manufactured in India will have to have their lights on at all times. Yes, even in broad daylight. A waste? No. Not at all. Quite the opposite in fact. Here’s why.

The lone biker

He is seldom as visible as he would like to be. Coupled with that, things like a dark bike or a bright sun behind him and he can disappear almost entirely in a moment. What’s the problem with that? Well, from a driver’s point of view, you can’t avoid what you can’t see.

Daylight saga

Even in bright sunlight, a glowing headlamp is far more visible than a bike with no lamps on. We see it regularly in our photoshoots and there’s plenty of more credible research available to prove the point. In fact, Bajaj Auto recently told us that the reason why the Dominar’s auto headlamp function’s default mode is high beam because their research showed that the bike is visible up to 1.5km away in a car’s rear view with the headlamp on high beam in bright sunshine!

Blind as bats

That’s what drivers turn into when you get into their blind spots but a flash of light makes him far more alert to hidden dangers. Remember what we said earlier? They can’t avoid what they can’t see.