Night DrivingMV Act 2019, Section 134 – driver duty of care for vulnerable road users; CMVR Rule 104 bicycle lamp requirement
Night Visibility — Dress to Be Seen
Rule: Pedestrians and cyclists must use reflective gear at night; drivers must anticipate unlit users
1
Sector 62, Noida, 11:30 PM delivery run
Raju swerves hard to avoid a cyclist in dark clothing on an unlit stretch — no lights, no reflectors on the cycle.
→ Raju's bike skids, he falls, order damaged. Cyclist rides on unaware. Raju's elbow is bruised.
✓ Lesson: An unlit cyclist at night is visible only at 15–20 metres — at 40 km/h, reaction distance is 22 metres.
2
Same route, Raju's new approach
After the incident, Raju reduces speed to 30 km/h on all unlit stretches and uses high beam on empty roads.
→ He spots a reflectorless hand-cart 40m ahead — stops with 10m to spare.
✓ Lesson: On unlit roads, speed must compensate for poor road-user visibility. 30 km/h buys you that margin.
3
Raju gifts his building's night-shift guard a reflective vest
He explains what he learned from the near-miss.
→ Guard wears it every shift. Five other guards in the complex ask where to buy one.
✓ Lesson: A safety habit shared is a safety habit multiplied.
Now that you know this rule — can you apply it?
Test yourself with scenario-based questions from real Indian roads.