HYDERABAD: Not wearing a seat belt, a simple safety measure often ignored by car passengers, is turning fatal for a few. In most of the cases, the driver wears the seat belt but the other passengers ignore it.
Though the person driving a car is mandated to wear a seat belt under the Motor Vehicles Act, recent incidents in and around the city prove that drivers are safe while fellow passengers succumbed in accidents, which stresses the need of safety belt for all occupants of a car. Most of the new generation cars have linked the driver’s seat belt with the safety bags in the car. Unless the driver wears the seat belt, the safety balloons do not open at the time of an accident.
Ahsan Basha of Traffic Sense, an NGO working on traffic awareness, says that though there is much awareness about wearing helmet and seat belt, it is all only about the drivers and not about the pillion rider or other passengers in the car. If a bike rider is at risk, the pillion rider is also at risk and the same is true in the case of cars. “Wearing seat belt should be made mandatory for all the passengers in a car. The government should take a strong stand on it and create more awareness about this very simple safety measure.” he says.
Officials of TS transport department say that almost all cars in the market these days have a facility where the air bag cushions open up if the car driver straps his seat belt. But at the car assembly stage itself the manufacturer should link the seat belt with the ignition key so the can start the vehicle only if he wears the belt. “If the facility is extended to all the passengers of the vehicle, it would be more safe. Even if there is a human error leading to an accident, the seat belt will definitely protect the passengers from fatal injuries and there are a number of examples to prove it even on the Outer Ring Road.” they assert.
Some Recent Accidents
July 7, 2018: Mallesh Yadav, a photographer travelling in a car without wearing a seat belt, died when the car overturned after crashing into the divider on ORR. The driver and two others escaped with simple injuries as they wore seat belts.
July 3, 2018: Alwal corporator C Vijaya Shanthi Reddy’s mother Vijayalakshmi, who was not wearing a seat belt, died when their vehicle met with an accident on ORR. The corpotator’s father Balreddy and the corporator escaped with minor injuries as they were wearing seat belts.
July 2017: A drunk driver escaped unhurt when their car crashed into a metro pillar at Saroornagar as he was wearing a seat belt but his two friends in the car, who were not wearing belts, died.
February 2016: Actress Pranitha Subash escaped with minor injuries when the car in which she was travelling hit a road divider and fell into a pit. Both were wearing seat belts.
Law not stringent
According to the Telangana State Motor Vehicles Act, Section 138(3)/177, a fine of ` 100 may be imposed if a four-wheeler driver drives the vehicle without wearing a seat belt but the law does not mandate it for other passengers in the vehicle. As the fine is very meagre, drivers often take it easy and pay the paltry fine, if caught. So police book erring drivers under Section 184 of the Act, which is for dangerous driving, which attracts ` 1,000 fine or imprisonment for a term up to six months or both
