Govt will make rear seat belt alarm mandatory: Union Minister Nitin Gadkari

"Because of the death of Cyrus Mistry in a car accident, we have taken a decision that there will be a seat belt beep system for the rear seats also in vehicles," Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said while addressing a Business Standard program to celebrate India@75.

Mumbai:After the recent death of business tycoon Cyrus Mistry in a road accident, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday said that the government is planning to make it mandatory for automakers to introduce a seat belt alarm system for rear seats also. It is currently mandatory for all vehicle manufacturers in India to provide seat belt reminders only for front-seat passengers.

"Because of the death of Cyrus Mistry in a car accident, we have taken a decision that there will be a seat belt beep system for the rear seats also in vehicles," he said while addressing a Business Standard program to celebrate India@75. "We will issue a draft notification in 3-4 days (for making it mandatory for automakers to introduce a seat belt alarm system for rear seats also)," Gadkari added.

Further claiming that the government aims at reducing the accident percentage in India to 50% by 2024, Gadkari said that the rules regarding wearing seat belts in the rear seat will be made stricter.

Former Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry was killed in a road accident on Sunday after his car hit a divider in Maharashtra's Palghar district. Although not wearing a seat belt by passengers sitting in the rear seats attracts a fine of Rs 1,000 under Rule 138 (3) of the Central Motor Vehicle Rules (CMVR), most people are either unaware of this mandatory rule or just ignore them.

Even traffic policemen seldom fine passengers sitting on rear seats for not wearing seat belts. According to a recent road ministry report, the number of persons killed and injured due to not wearing a seat belt during 2020 stood at 15,146 and 39,102, respectively.