Using rear seatbelts to soon become mandatory: Nitin Gadkari

The government will soon make using rear seatbelts mandatory in cars, announced the Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday. He also added that a penalty has already been decided for the defaulters not wearing seatbelts irrespective of the front/rear rows. The decision comes in the aftermath of the death of former Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry who succumbed to injuries due to a car accident recently.

In addition to introducing penalties for seatbelt defaulters, the government is also mapping out a plan to bring in seatbelt alarms for rear seats as well which will soon be made necessary for automakers to introduce this feature in future cars. "Because of the death of Cyrus Mistry in a car accident, we have taken a decision that there will be a seat belt beep system for the rear seats also in vehicles," the union minister said.

“The notification for the rear seat belt mandate will be issued in the coming two-three days. Road safety is the only field where I tried my best but could not succeed,” Gadkari said at the ‘India@75 — Past, Present and Future’ conclave in New Delhi. The union minister added that the quantum of fine on seat belt defaulters hasn't been announced yet but just like the installation of airbags for all passengers, seatbelts would now also be made mandatory.

Cyrus Mistry car accident

Cyrus Mistry, along with his co-passenger Jahangir Pandole, were both killed in a car crash earlier in September. Both were seated in the back seat of a Mercedes SUV while not wearing a seatbelt. The autopsies of Mistry and Pandole revealed that the death occurred due to ‘severe head trauma and multiple external and internal injuries to vital organs’.

Meanwhile, India tops the list in the world in terms of road accidents. Last year 1.5 lakh people were killed in nearly 5 lakh road accidents in India.