Rear seatbelt alarm warning in cars to be mandatory soon: Nitin Gadkari

If you are mostly driven around by chauffeur in India, get ready to buckle up compulsorily. The Centre is planning to make it mandatory to use rear seatbelt alarm warning system. A constant beeping sound will alert the driver and passengers in case someone has not belted up while the car moves. Union Minister Nitin Gadkari made the announcement on Tuesday, while taking about road safety in India, besides other measures his ministry plans to increase safety for commuters on Indian roads. However, it took death of Cyrus Mistry, former Chairman of Tata Motors, for a wake-up call on one of the more neglected aspects on the matter.

A recent report by the Centre revealed that more than 15,000 people lost their lives in accidents because they were not wearing seatbelts at the rear. Currently, almost every car sold in India comes with seatbelt alarm warnings for the front row occupants. However, the same alarm system is not used in the backseats. This is one thing the Ministry for Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) aims to change in coming days. It plans to make it mandatory for carmakers to install similar alarm system for rear seats as well.

"Because of this Cyrus accident we have decided ... an alarm will continue to beep until those sitting in the rear seats put on their seat belt," Nitin Gadkari said. "There is already an alarm for those in the front seats, and now it will beep for rear seat belts too," he added. The ministry plans to introduce fines for those found violating the rule. However, Gadkari said the onus to strictly enforce this rule also depends on the mindset of people travelling in car.

Earlier, a senior official from the ministry had said that an order to ban all kinds of seatbelt clips will be issued soon. The ministry also plans to make six airbags in cars and three-point seat belts for middle and rear seats mandatory for carmakers and campaign to raise awareness on the importance of seat belts, including for those in the backseats of a car.

Currently, Not wearing seatbelts at rear seats is a punishable offence under Central Motor Vehicle Rules. It attracts a fine of ₹1,000 for violation. However, laxity on part of traffic police to enforce it and lack of awareness among people about seatbelts and the rules have failed to implement the rule strictly.