NEW DELHI:
Road transport ministry
will soon come up with a fresh
notification
for
mandatory installation
of ‘
rear seat belt alarm
’ in all
cars
. This comes barely months after lapsing of the earlier draft notification on this, which TOI had reported on Nov 7 last year.
Sources said the draft notification for introduction of this crucial safety feature, aimed at nudging rear-seat passengers to wear seatbelts, will soon be put in public domain and
car manufacturers
will have six months from the date of the final notification to introduce this in all new models. “The notification will be only for rear seatbelt alarm and there will be no other provision,” said an official.
Earlier, the ministry had issued a draft notification for rear seat belt alarm along with two other mandatory safety features — three-point rear seat belt and six airbags — after former Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry’s death. Investigators found that he was not wearing a seatbelt when his car met with a crash. Since the proposal of mandatory fitment of six airbags could not go through, the entire notification got lapsed.
Currently, the in-built seatbelt reminder is mandatory for driver and passenger on the front seat. Despite the Motor Vehicle Act specifying that rear seat passengers not wearing a seatbelt will attract a fine of Rs 1,000, most people are either unaware of this or ignore it. There are also rare instances of traffic police personnel penalising rear seat passengers not complying with this rule.
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