HYDERABAD: Youths often romanticize racing. Availability of high Cylinder Capacity, otherwise called “super bikes” is a dream come true for many. However, there exist no regulations or guidelines for the sale of these high powered vehicles which require training and skills, to effectively ride them.
Ironically, the Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Bill 2016 (MVA) too fails to address the lack of provisions to check sale of super bikes or expertise to ride them, say experts from the bike racing arena.
“Why not increase the age for a high cubic centimetres (cc) vehicles?”, asks T Ranganath, deputy commissioner of police (traffic), Hyderabad. There are age criteria for obtaining transport licences and specific training is needed to drive heavy vehicles.
The same concept needs to be extended to super bikes. “There is a need to segregate the bike licences for such bikes. There is a certain level of maturity needed to drive them, the MVA doesn’t address these issues,” he added.
There are nine types of drivers licences in India. The type of driver licence one needs to apply for depends on the type of vehicle one chooses to drive. The requirements for obtaining a drivers’ licence are simple and easy to abide. But there exists no special licence for bikes that are classified as super bikes, unlike the classification and special driving tests for heavy vehicles.
Venkat Rao, president, Speedway Motor Sports Association, explaining further said, “Suppose a person wishes to buy a super bike in America for instance, along with the bike the person will have to buy a lot of support equipments, such as a dotted helmet, an elbow guard etc.”
But there exists no such guidelines that the bike sellers have to follow in India under any act or government notification. There exists training institutes for heavy vehicles but not for super bikes, he added.