MoRTH drafts safety and fitness rules for two-wheeled ambulances
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has released draft amendments to the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, proposing dedicated safety, equipment and periodic fitness standards for two-wheeled road ambulances. The rules cover structural checks, warning lights and stretcher hardware, and set phased compliance deadlines running through October 2027.
What was announced
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has issued a draft notification proposing new regulations for two-wheeled road ambulances under the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989. The proposal creates a dedicated safety, equipment and periodic fitness framework for the L2 category, which has so far operated without ambulance-specific standards.
Under the draft, two-wheeled ambulances will be subject to a dedicated fitness inspection regime. The inspection covers structural integrity of the patient unit, tyres and wheels, emergency warning lights, stretcher mounting and locking mechanisms, patient restraint belts, stretcher loading systems, and the presence of a valid fire extinguisher. Renewed fitness certificates for these vehicles will be valid for two years.
The compliance timeline is phased. Top-mounted warning lights on two-wheeled ambulances must comply with AIS:209 (Part 1) from October 1, 2026. From October 1, 2027, all newly manufactured L2-category two-wheeled ambulances will have to meet full AIS:209 compliance covering the wider set of equipment and construction requirements. Existing vehicles already in service will continue to be governed by the periodic fitness regime rather than the new-manufacture standard, though the fitness inspection itself will draw on the same equipment checklist. The draft is open for stakeholder comments before final notification.
The Car Jury verdict
This is overdue paperwork catching up with a category that has quietly grown across smaller cities and hilly districts, where a full ambulance cannot reach a patient in time. Two-wheeled ambulances have been operating in a grey zone: no dedicated fitness template, no defined warning-light spec, no clarity on stretcher restraint. The draft fixes that.
The two-year fitness renewal is sensible for vehicles that see punishing duty cycles, and pushing AIS:209 warning lights from October 2026 gives operators a real, not theoretical, deadline. The October 2027 date for full compliance on newly manufactured L2 units is fair notice to builders. Our concern is enforcement at the RTO level, where inspection quality for commercial two-wheelers is already patchy. The rules are only as good as the fitness centre stamping them. Get that right, and this genuinely raises the floor.
