New Delhi, Sep 5 Wearing rear seat belts may be mandatory in India, but, a majority of people on rear seats don't bother - and this can be fatal, say experts.
While the government has made it mandatory for car makers to install six airbags, but, experts said that people, especially rear seat passengers, need to be educated to wear seat belts as abroad.
"It is to be kept in mind that in the event of a crash, if the passenger has not fastened his seat belt, the deployment of the airbag could end up killing the passenger, even if the crash does not kill. Six airbags imply that the rear seat passengers would also be covered. The practice of fastening seat belts in the rear seat is very low even in big cities and metros and near-zero in the mid to smaller cities of India. Worse still, the awareness that if an airbag deploys without a seat belt, it could be injurious or fatal - is very low in India," said K.K. Kapila, President(emeritus) International Road Federation (IRF).
While referring to the Sunday's accident involving industrialist Cyrus Mistry and others, former Chief Election Commissioner, S.Y. Quraishi, in a tweet, said: "Now that it is confirmed that he and co passenger in the rear seat were not wearing a seat belt, the government must launch an awareness/ enforcement campaign. It's shocking information that airbags don't open if the belt is not worn".
Even Motor Vehicle Rules say that passengers in the rear seats (back seat) are also supposed to wear seat belts. As stated in Rule 138 (3) of the Central Motor Vehicle Rules (CMVR), 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. Failure to do so can result in a fine of Rs 1,000.
As per a WHO report, wearing a seatbelt reduces the risk of death among drivers and front seat occupants by 45-50 per cent, and the risk of death and serious injuries among rear seat occupants by 25 per cent.
Passengers sitting on rear seats have nothing to hold them into their position in case of an accident if the seatbelt is not strapped in. A rear passenger not wearing seat belts, in case of an accident, is prone to hitting the front seat's backrest. This can lead to whiplash injury, often impacting vertebrae and cutting oxygen supply to the brain in many cases.
In many cases, a rear passenger without belts can collide with the front seat, pushing the front passenger into the dashboard or deploying an airbag, posing a fatal risk. It has been seen that in a few cases, the rear passengers can even fly out of the windscreen or hit the dashboard or steering wheel.
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