Seatbelts will be compulsory for all passengers in car: Nitin Gadkari

New Delhi, Sep 06: Days after Cyrus Mistry, the former Tata Sons chairman, was killed in a road accident, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari stated that seatbelts will be mandatory for all passengers sitting in a vehicle.

"It will now be mandatory for all the people sitting in the car to wear a seat belt," Gadkari said.

"After the death of Cyrus Mistry, today the government has taken a big decision for the safety of the backseat passengers. A seat belt is required for the back seat," Nitin Gadkari said.

Those sitting in the back of a car and not wearing a seat belt will be fined soon and the rates will be decided by the respective state government, the union minister added.

Several media reports also claimed that the government is planning to introduce seatbelt alarms for rear seats as well.

Former Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry, who died in a car accident on Sunday, was not wearing a seat belt, primary probe has revealed. The incident took place in Palghar, about 135 kilometers north of India"s financial capital Mumbai.

The ill-fated car covered 20 km of distance in just 9 minutes after crossing the Charoti check post in the Palghar district, 120 km away from Mumbai.

Seatbelt laws in India

The government has made it mandatory for automakers to provide three-point seat belts for all front-facing passengers in a car. The norm will also be applicable to the middle seat in the rear row of a car. Failure to do so can result in a fine of Rs 1,000.

According to the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988, wherever seat belts are provided, "it shall be ensured that the driver, and the person seated in the front seat or the persons occupying front facing rear seats, as the case may be, wear the seat belts while the vehicle is in motion".

Presently, only the front seats and two rear seats in most cars produced in the country have three-point seat belts. However, the centre or middle rear seats in these cars come equipped with only a two-point or lap seat belt, similar to the ones provided in aircraft seats.

However, in India, passengers generally do not wear seatbelts, not realising that this basic safety measure can turn out to be a lifesaver in case of an accident.

Usually, regional transport authority officials seldom fine or punish them for not wearing seatbelts.

Notably, around 1.5 lakh people are killed in five lakh accidents across the country, every year.