BackSoon, middle seat in cars will also need to have three-point seatbelts
The intent of the government is to improve the overall safety ratings of passenger cars manufactured in India
PremiumNEW DELHI : The government will soon make it mandatory for automakers to provide only three-point seatbelts in all the seats of a car, including for the third passenger seated in the middle of the rear seat, officials in the ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) said on Monday.
Currently, only the front seats and two rear seats in most cars produced in the country have three-point seatbelts, which are also called Y-shaped belts. However, the centre or middle rear seat in these cars come equipped with only a two-point or lap seatbelt, similar to the ones provided in aircraft seats. MoRTH is likely to issue a notification in about a month, after which suggestions an d comments will be sought from the public.
“The intent of the government is to improve the overall safety ratings of passenger cars manufactured in India. The ministry found that barring a few models, no vehicle has three-point seatbelts for the passenger seated in the rear middle in India. They only have a lap belt, which we found is hardly effective in case of a crash, thus putting the passenger at great risk," a senior MoRTH official said requesting anonymity.
The three-point seatbelt is scientifically proven to be far safer than the two-point belt as it evenly spreads out the energy of a moving body over the chest, shoulders and pelvis at the time of a collision resulting in lesser injuries.
Automaker Volvo developed the three-point seatbelt and introduced the then-patented seatbelt in its cars in August 1959. However, the company decided to leave the patent open in the greater interest of public safety.
A second ministry official said this will be the second intervention to make cars safer for people after the government recently moved to make six airbags mandatory for all passenger vehicles. “Currently, the average vehicle rating of cars in India is relatively poor and the majority of the models are rated 3-stars or below as per the safety standards," the official said.
On 14 January, the MoRTH issued a draft notification seeking comments from the public and other stakeholders on the proposed rule that will make it mandatory for car makers to provide six airbags.
But experts said that a lot also has to be blamed on passenger behaviour as almost 90% of Indian car passengers risk their safety by not using rear seatbelts at all. Not wearing the rear seatbelts has been a traffic offence under the Central Motor Vehicle Rules for over three decades now, but the spotlight on the importance of rear seatbelts emerged after Union rural development minister Gopinath Munde died in a car accident in 2014.
Piyush Tewari, CEO of SaveLife Foundation, said over 30% of fatal crashes investigated by the foundation across highways involved injuries suffered by passengers due to non-wearing of rear seatbelts.
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