MoRTH notifies draft amendment to make rear seat belt alarm mandatory

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways have issued a draft amendment to the Automotive Industry Standards or AIS 145 stating a new set of safety rules for the Indian Automotive Sector that makes safety belt reminders for rear passengers mandatory.

Hailed as Draft Notification 6, replaces the required provision for seat belt alarms for “driver and co-driver” with “driver and all other front-facing seat occupants”. This amendment is for M&N category vehicles, which includes four-wheeler passenger vehicles and goods-carrying vehicles with four-wheelers or more.

The AIS 145 safety rules also specify safety equipment that automotive manufacturers are required to install mandatorily on vehicles they ship.

This draft amendment is in line with the tragic road crash which claimed the life of former Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry and his friend Jehangir Pandole. Both Mistry and Pandole were sitting on the second row of the Mercedes Benz GLC SUV without wearing a seat belt.

Further reacting to this incident Mercedes Benz sent an investigative team to investigate the car crash. In a press release, the German car manufacturer stated, “As a responsible brand respecting customer privacy, our team is cooperating with the authorities where possible, and we will provide any clarifications to them directly as required”.

Later, speaking at the annual session of the Society of Indian Automobile (SIAM), the Managing Director and CEO of Mercedes Benz India, Martin Schwenk said road safety rules are not being followed and that stringent implementation of rules will bring down fatalities from road accidents.

On the other hand, the National Crime Record of Bureau revealed that road crashes alone have claimed the highest 1.55 lakhs lives in 2021 across India. Adding on to that, 3.71 lakh people were injured out of the 4.03 lakh road accidents recorded across the country. The NCRB recorded that deaths per thousand vehicles in 2021 were 0.53% compared to 0.45% in 2020 and 0.52% in 2019.

Also, state-wise, Mizoram, Punjab, Jharkhand, and Uttar Pradesh recorded the most deaths, compared to injuries due to accidents, as per NCRB.