The government has decided to make seat belts mandatory for passengers in rear seats of cars and impose penalties for violations, Roads and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said today.
An order on seat belts for rear seat car passengers and the penalty in case of violations will be issued within the next three days, Gadkari said at an event.
Currently, traffic police across states impose a penalty only when the driver and the passenger in the front seat are found travelling without a seat belt. Gadkari also said that all cars would have seat belt warning alarms for passengers on the rear side, similar to that for front seat passengers.
This comes after Cyrus Pallonji Mistry, former chairman of Tata Sons, died in a car accident near Mumbai on Sunday. Reportedly, Mistry was in the rear seat and was not wearing a seat belt. The ministry has already approved the draft regulation for a mandatory six-airbag rule for vehicles carrying up to eight passengers. Six airbags are expected to be mandatory for vehicles manufactured from Oct 1.
(With inputs from agencies)
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