Mistry’s demise puts the spotlight back on how seat belts can save lives

Mumbai: The sudden and untimely demise of erstwhile Tata Group Chairman and MD of Shapoorji Pallonji Group, Cyrus Mistry in a road accident has put the spotlight back on imbibing road safety measures to the T. Believe it or not, about one and a half lakh Indians lost their lives because of road accidents in 2021. If you look closer into the statistics this means 18 Indians die every hour on the roads. The Government data shows that in 2021 alone, there was a 17 percent jump in road deaths compared to the year 2020.

Acting quickly, the union road and transport minister Nitin Gadkari said that the government was mulling to make seat belts for rear passengers' mandatory. The government would also fine and penalize those found in violation of these rules. The government plans on notifying this new regulation as early as next week.

But what often gets ignored is the poor engineering of several highways, the potholes and the stray animals that surprise drivers and ultimately result in injury or death. In fact, a preliminary forensic report of the accident shows that it could be 'faulty engineering' that could have lead to the accident.

Interestingly, if you take into account the length of all the roads in India, only two percent of the total length are highways. And it is these national highways that result in more than 30 percent of all road accidents in India. More than 50 percent of those killed in road accidents are found not wearing seat belts.

This figure alone is sufficient to emphasize the importance of wearing a seat belt. The data from US national highway traffic safety administration also shows that buckling up reduces death and injury by almost 50 percent - no matter whether you are driving the vehicle or you are the passenger.

What people don't realize is that not wearing a seat belt can result in ejection from the vehicle involved in a crash and it is almost always deadly. More importantly, air bags are designed to work with seat belts and not without them. In fact, air bags can cause severe body harm or even kill if you are not buckled up.

Even Mercedes Benz, the makers of the car that Cyrus Mistry's accident occurred in, have issued a statement post the car crash. "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" it said.