[Jaggu]

They should start with penalising all Govt officials, Politicians, Celebrities and then send strong messages of the same on all sorts of media. That should get the ball rolling.

But this is so sad also, that the so called otherwise well informed people have so much disregards for basic safety norms.

[srvm]

As with most other rules & regulations in India, particularly pertaining to Road vehicles, it is the implementation that matters. Everyday, I see countless vehicles flouting the most basic of rules such as jumping red lights, wrong-side driving in the presence of traffic cops, who couldn't be bothered less about all this.

And this thread couldn't be more well-timed in my case. My car came back from TASS just 2 days ago after replacement of faulty fuel-pump. For this work, TASS had to lift/tilt the rear seat base. Now, the middle seat belt (lap belt) is stuck below the rear seat and won't come out .
I'm off to TASS again today to get it out. I'm sure my SA is going to be flabbergasted that I need the lap belt out instead of tucked under. We are a family of five and all of us are belted all the time while travelling. And usually its my daughter who is in the middle of the rear seat with the lap belt. Hope I succeed in convincing my SA to extract the belt.

[DeKay]

Good! I'm not anywhere close to being a fan of Mr. Gadkari or the current administration, but if they can mandate rear passenger seatbelt reminders, it'll save me from mindless excuses my friends and family make when I ask them to buckle up in the backseat.

That is all.
People who want to avoid wearing them will use dummy buckles to fool the car anyway; let them! Reminds me of a bit Seinfeld did:


"There are many things, that you can point to, that humans, are not smart. But my personal favorite would have to be, that we had to invent the helmet. What was happening, apparently, is that we were involved in a lot of activities that were cracking our heads.
We chose not to avoid these activities but instead come up with some sort of device to help us to continue to enjoy, our head-cracking lifestyle.

The helmet.

Even that didn't work, because enough people weren't wearing them, so we had to come up with the helmet law, which is even stupider because the idea behind the helmet law is to preserve a brain, who's judgement is so poor, that it doesn't even try to prevent the cracking of the head it's in!"

[anjan_c2007]

The Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1988 was tweaked in 2002 to make seat belts mandatory also for rear seat passengers where the rear seat faces the seat in front. According to Rule 138 (3) of the Central Motor Vehicle Rules (CMVR), passengers sitting in the rear and not wearing seat belts can be fined Rs 1,000.

Rule 138(3) In a motor vehicle, in which seat-belts have been provided under sub-rule (1)
or sub-rule (1-A) of rule 125 or rule 125-A, as the case may be, it shall be ensured that the
driver, and the person seated in the front seat or the persons occupying front facing rear
seats, as the case may be, wear the seat belts while the vehicle is in motion.

This was not being followed by the enforcing authorities almost anywhere in India since two decades. The state of Kerala reported some challans issued to defaulters.

The Supreme Court constituted a committee in April 2014 headed by Justice (retd) K. S. Radhakrishnan with two road safety experts as members. The Committee has submitted its report and has made several recommendations to enhance road safety. Most of these recommendations are being implemented as amendments to the Motor Vehicles Act and CMVR. The committee report has stressed on the importance of wearing rear seat belts stating that these need to be compulsory on highways.

The Union Minister Mr Gadkari has spoken yesterday about the seat belt alarms to be made compulsory in cars even for rear seated passengers without belts, which the auto industry has gracefully accepted.

Mr Gadkari also stated that he had travelled with three Chief Ministers (names not disclosed) in their cars. These cars were fitted with chips to deactivate the alarms and he also said that none of the three CM's were wearing seat belts.

Mr Gadkari said that there is already a law that penalises the car owner if the rear seat passengers don't wear seat belts. Implementation is through the respective state governments.

[harish11128]

Just a curious question - Do the middle seat of the middle row or last row in 7 seater cars have seat belts?

[ashokcj]

Originally Posted by harish11128

Just a curious question - Do the middle seat of the middle row or last row in 7 seater cars have seat belts?

Innova crysta has seat belts coming down from the roof for the 3rd row middle seat.

[ramotra3]

Step in the right direction. Totally support it eye's closed.
Anyone knows when 3-point seatbelt rule will be implemented or any update regarding it?
https://www.livemint.com/auto-news/s...264837857.html

[ajayc123]

Originally Posted by harish11128

Just a curious question - Do the middle seat of the middle row or last row in 7 seater cars have seat belts?

Would that not become an 8 seater? Is the last row supposed to be a 2 seater (as i always thought) or a 3 seater?

[BoneCollector]

If a legislation is being brought to penalise people for not using seatbelt in rear seats, that's good. But then it should not remain on paper.

There was intent (Govt to make 3-point seatbelts mandatory for all front facing passengers) of the government to implement 3-point seatbelts for all front facing passengers, where is it lost?

Till the time, the rules are not enforced and not only stays on paper or the enforcement agencies actually enforce it and not collect bribes, everything is a hogwash.

At the end of the day, it's our own safety that matters. In my opinion, if one can take safety measures on their own, nothing better than it. Sadly, human lives are not considered precious especially by humans themselves.

In my car, everyone is always belted regardless of the seat used. And my son is in a car seat. But I miss the 3 point seatbelt for middle passenger in 2nd row. I hope better sense prevails and people take safety in their own hands.

[techbro]

I don't think the government should force and fine people to wear seatbelts or helmets because there are no externalities to this unlike driving over the speed limit or drunk driving. Anyone who does not wear a seatbelt or helmet is pretty irrational and the most the government should do is probably run ads and campaigns to encourage people to wear helmets and seatbelts.

[Amrik Singh]

More than making strict legislations, forcing Manufacturers to include more safety features, it is important to ensure that the users follow the rules more effectively.
Wearing safety belt is somehow followed, but not a child in the laps of the passengers. I have seen infants to young kids in the laps of the front seat passengers and a few times DRIVER too.
Traffic Police have poor eyesight that they do not notice all these violations but their eyes are trained to look for Heavy Vehicles (probably - their ATM).

[for_cars1]

Originally Posted by techbro

I don't think the government should force and fine people to wear seatbelts

In some countries abroad, if the rear passengers are found to be not wearing their seat belts, then the fine is extracted from the offending rear passenger and not the driver of the car.

For the front passengers, driver is responsible and driver needs to pay the fine for self and the occupant in the front passenger seat.

Enforcement is key. Without penalties, majority will continue to not wear belts.

[techbro]

Originally Posted by for_cars1

In some countries abroad, if the rear passengers are found to be not wearing their seat belts, then the fine is extracted from the offending rear passenger and not the driver of the car.

For the front passengers, driver is responsible and driver needs to pay the fine for self and the occupant in the front passenger seat.

Enforcement is key. Without penalties, majority will continue to not wear belts.

Why is that a concern for the government? It's an individuals car and their life which is at risk. I don't see how is it the governments duty to force people at the point of a gun to wear seat belts or not.

[Carevidence]

Originally Posted by autobahnjpr

In theory it is ok but quite impractical. Wearing Seat belts for rear passengers in city traffic with crawling vehicles will be a kill specially for aged people and children. The reason for the accident is over speeding and going at 130-140 kmph when not needed. If the vehicle was being driven at 80 kmph, I am quite sure the accident would not have been fatal. A young man of 20 years died due to over speeding his BMW 340i and he was not sitting in the rear.

What government should focus more on is to create awareness and penalties for unnecessary over speeding and rash driving. Roads and highways are means to go from one place to another. If someone wants to have thrills, a racing circuit is there to fulfill that.

Making rear seat belts mandatory will not avoid such accidents on the highway as people will still unbuckle and carry on. Only city traffic people will bear the brunt of this regulation where they have to make sure not being fined by traffic cops for the offense.

Sir,

75 years and a mind boggling number of avoidable road deaths later, we are still talking root causes etc, surely by now we have the data to make informed decisions ?
In a country which prides itself on yoga and meditation it took a celebrity road accident to bring this matter into focus( again).The state machinery is obviously ineffective whether it be roadsignage,pedestrian walkways, access control ,overloaded vehicles etc and I do feel rear seatbelts should be utilised, not because somebody will challan us but because we need it.
Its a habit ,including child seats which we need to inculcate.
This requires improvement in training standards which should result in better awareness, for which driving training schools need to step up and provide more rigorous training,and make it difficult for people to even apply for a driving licence before competence standards are met, and yes, this includes state machinery too!
Implement accountability, big time, including state machinery, one life lost is already one too many.
Above all, drive with KINDNESS, I cannot emphasise this enough, remind yourself of that before you start, and ask yourself at the end of the drive if you could have been more kind.Give way to pedestrians, cyclists.Better than waiting for authorities!

[barcalad]

Delhi traffic cops have started enforcing the usage of rear seat belts from today. A fine of Rs. 1000 is being imposed on people who are found not belting up. This article confirms it.

A welcome change that should have started being enforced much earlier, I reckon. Other states should immediately take note of this development, especially the ones bordering Delhi, as I am certain a lot of folks in the rear will un-belt themselves the moment they cross Delhi borders. Feeling free and all that, after all.

With time, I hope wearing rear-seat belts becomes a muscle memory (like us front seat folks) rather than quickly belting up after the driver warns you of traffic cops ahead.