BENGALURU: Three MBA students who died last week after their speeding car toppled on NICE Road would have survived the crash if they had their seat belts on, preliminary investigations have revealed. The trio was sitting in the vehicle’s rear.
Police officials said the three girls — Arshia Kumari, Harsha Srivastav and
Shruti Gopinath — were killed on the spot, while those sitting in the front,
Pavit Kohli and
Praveen Chakravarthy (who was at the wheel), survived with minor injuries as they were wearing seat belts. The accident has put spotlight on the importance of safety belts in vehicles.
A survey conducted by Maruti Suzuki India across 17 cities last year revealed that usage of safety belts by rear- seat passengers in the country is only 4%. As many as 45% respondents said lack of legal enforcement was the reason for passengers not wearing rear seat belts. It also found that only 25% of all car users wear seat belts. The Motor Vehicles Act 1988 mandates car manufacturers to provide safety belts even for rear seats, but wearing them is compulsory only for the driver and the person in the adjacent seat.
Only drivers under scanner
However, Bengaluru traffic police focus only on compliance among drivers; they booked 2.5 lakh violations in 2016 and 2.4 lakh in 2017. The numbers, though, seem meagre compared to the city’s car population — 14.1lakh. The offence attracts a paltry fine of Rs 100.
Additional commissioner of police (traffic) R Hithendra said they will create awareness among motorists on seat-belt rules. “It’s not practically possible to book spot fine cases on busy roads due to traffic density. We are also unable to take photos of seat-belt violations through CCTV cameras,” he said.
Experts say an unbuckled passenger is more vulnerable to be thrown out through the front, rear or side windows of acar during an accident.
Roshan Toshniwal, a road expert, said: “Accidents are unfortunate, but their severity can be reduced through safety equipment like seat belts. Some vehicle segments provide rear seat belts, which can be a life saviour.” He said enforcement should be intensified on the city’s outskirts where motorists often drive at high speeds.
In 2014, Dr Harsh Vardhan, then
Union health minister, had said that senior
BJP leader Gopinath Munde (who was also a Union minister) could have survived by wearing the seat belt of his car. “Most people think that rear seat belts only serve a decorative purpose. They are as important as front seat belts,” he had said.
“A UK research has shown that wearing a seat beltreduces the risk of fatal injury to front-seat car occupants by 45% and risk of moderate-tocritical injury by 50%. For those riding in the rear of vans and sport-utility vehicles, rear seat belts are 73% better at preventing fatalities. Also, kids are likely to be buckled 92% of the time when adults in the car use seat belts, as opposed to 72% of the time when they don’t,” Vardhan had said.
TIMES VIEW
With road accidents claiming lives every day, the importance of safety belts in four-wheelers cannot be overemphasized. But the seat-belt rule has seen low compliance, mainly due to the absence of stringent penalties and poor enforcement. While usage is abysmally low among rear-seat passengers, even occupants sitting in front are reluctant to buckle up knowing they won’t be penalized. Road users need to understand that not wearing a seat belt is as serious an offence as helmetless riding or drunk driving and can lead to irreparable damage. Cops need to crack the whip on all violators to drive home the safety message.
Representative image 
