WHAT HAS HAPPENED ?
Minister for Road Transport & Highways, Nitin Gadkari on September 6 announced at an event that a penalty will be levied on passengers not wearing seat belts in the rear seats in cars.
The move comes after the recent death of business tycoon Cyrus Mistry in a tragic car accident on this way to Mumbai.
Reports stated that Mistry was seated in the rear seats and was not wearing a seatbelt.
His life could have been saved if he had worn a seatbelt.
NOTIFICATION IN NEXT FEW DAYS
Gadkari said that the government will release a notification in the next three days detailing the penalty involved if a passenger fails to wear a seatbelt.
He said, "previously there was a penalty for not wearing seatbelt for the driver and co-passenger only, but we have updated the law to include rear seat passengers as well."
The fine for not wearing a rear seatbelt would be, the Minister said, "The minimum fine is * 1,000."
The minister further said that a beeper for not wearing a seatbelt will go off for the rear seats as well and that the move is already in talks with various car manufacturers.
This feature will now require to be included in cars of all price ranges.
LAWS ON SEATBELT ?
Seat belts are compulsory in both the front and back seats. Section 194 (B)(1) of The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019 says,
"Whoever drives a motor vehicle without wearing a safety belt or carries passengers not wearing seat belts shall be punishable with a fine of one thousand rupees".
Although not wearing a seat belt by passengers sitting in the rear seats attracts, most people are either unaware of this mandatory rule or just ignore them.
Even traffic policemen seldom fine passengers sitting on rear seats for not wearing seat belts.
SEATBELTS FOR ALL IN A CAR COMPULSORY
A video issued in the public interest by the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways says wearing a seat belt reduces the impact of an accident by 80%.
In February, the government made it mandatory for automakers to provide three-point seat belts for all front-facing passengers in a car, including the middle seat in the rear row of a car.
EVOLUTION OF SEATBELTS
Seat belts came into existence in the late 1800s.
Invented by George Cayley, an English aviation innovator, the original purpose behind their creation was to ensure that pilots were kept inside their gliders.
The seat belt as we know it now came into existence in 1959 after Swedish engineer Nils Bohlin invented the V-type three-point seat belt at the behest of Volvo. Up until then, seat belts were two-point lap belts - as we now see in aeroplanes.
This elementary design helped strap drivers and passengers with a buckle that was fastened over the abdomen.
In comparison, the innovative 3-point seat belt provides much better protection to drivers and passengers in the event of a road crash.
By virtue of its design, this seat belt, which helps secure both the upper and lower parts of the body in a much more firm manner, has helped save millions of lives globally over the years.
HOW SEAT BELT PROTECTS ?
This fact is corroborated by simple science. In a vehicle travelling at 100 km/hr, a rear seat passenger weighing about 80 kg and not secured with the help of a seat belt, is hurtled at an enormous force of 30,864 Joules in the event of a road crash.
Such tremendous speed is capable of causing severe injuries to both the said passenger and others, both within the vehicle and outside.
ATTITUDE TOWARDS SEATBELTS
The Ministry of Road Transport video mentioned was published on YouTube in April 2017, and had received just 117 views as of Monday. Compliance of seat belts in the rear seat is poor in India.
Some taxi drivers have the seat belt buckled but aren't strapped in themselves, and slide in only when there are traffic police around.
INDIANS DON'T SPEND ON SAFER CARS
It has been argued that for most Indians, the safety of a car or a particular ride is secondary to the cost (or mileage) and creature comforts.
The Centre's plan to mandate six airbags in all cars from October 1 is likely to be deferred amid internal discussions on its fallout in the small car market, and a pushback from the industry.
Leading the industry opposition is Maruti Suzuki India, which makes almost every second car that is sold in India.
ROAD ACCIDENTS IN INDIA
India sees about 4.4 lakh road traffic accidents every year, with over a quarter of them ending in death, according to data from the National Crime Record Bureau.
According to the latest data from NCRB's Crime in India 2021 report, 155,000 people died in accidents on Indian roads in 2021. The total number of road accidents in 2021 was 403,000.
According to the study, less than 1% of people in India use rear seat belts. 37.8% of all the people surveyed did not even know that any such legal compulsion existed.
While 23.9% of people did not even know that rear seat belts existed.
According to a recent road ministry report, the number of persons killed and injured due to not wearing a seat belt during 2020 stood at 15,146 and 39,102, respectively.
