HYDERABAD: As a consequence of industrialist Cyrus Mistry’s fatal road accident on September 4 in Maharashtra, the traffic police intends to make seat belts compulsory for rear seat passengers in four wheelers.
DCP Traffic (I) N. Prakash Reddy said that police would take up a drive to create awareness on the need for rear passengers to wear seat belts after a week, and would start penalising motorists from November 14.
A senior official of Hyderabad traffic police said cars which are not equipped with seat belts for the rear seat needed to get them fitted.
Following Cyrus Mistry’s death, the Union road transport ministry had made it mandatory for all car manufacturers to install seat belts for rear passengers. Mistry was also found to be sitting in the rear seat without wearing a seat belt.
Following this, the Mumbai police last month first made it compulsory for rear passengers to wear the belts, followed by the Karnataka police. In Mumbai, 185 citizens were fined for violating the rule on the first day it was implemented. Though Telangana is following suit, its implementation remains a challenge as most motorists in the rear seats, as well as a lot of them even in the front seat, do not wear seat belts across the country.
Aditi Sharma, whose family often commutes in a car, said her family members, even in the front seats, would not wear seat belts. To stop the seat belt alarm from going off, they insert the seat belt buckle into the groove from behind the sea
She said she also knew of people who had purchased only buckles and fixed them to the groove so as to prevent the alarm. Apart from this, some older models of cars may not have seat belts installed for rear seats, she said.
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