Soon, three-point seat belt to be made compulsory for all car seats

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways will soon make it compulsory for automobile manufacturers to provide three-point seatbelts for all passengers in a car, including for the third passenger seated in the middle of the rear seat.

Recently, the ministry made six airbags mandatory for all passenger vehicles. All these measures are aimed at making car travel safer.

In India, only the front two seats and two rear seats have three-point seatbelts while the third passenger in the middle has to contend with a two-point or lap seatbelt, which is hardly of any help in case of a crash.

Repeated studies have proved that three-point seatbelt is far safer than the two-point seat belt, causing less or no injuries to the chest, shoulders and pelvis regions in case of a crash.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways will issue a notification for seat belt for middle rear seat in a month and it will be open for suggestions and recommendations from public.

It may be noted that only a few models in India come with three-point seatbelts for rear middle seat. In fact, most models in India are rated 3-stars or below.

Otherwise, vehicle safety norms in India are strict but its implementation is poor. While strengthening vehicle safety norms is necessary, it is equally important to know that passengers have been lax in following even the existing rules. For instance, a study found that about 90% of Indian car passengers risk their safety by not using rear seatbelts at all. As per the Central Motor Vehicle Rules, wearing rear seat belts is mandatory, but not many follow the rule.

Almost a quarter of fatal accidents on highways in India happen because passengers refrain from wearing rear seatbelts.