Gadkari wants seat belts mandatory for all passengers, but a lot needs to be done to make roads safer

Road Transport & Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has said wearing seat belts would be mandatory for all passengers in a car, including those on rear seats. Actually, such a provision is already there. As per Rule 138 (3) of the Central Motor Vehicle Rules (CMVR), passengers in the rear seats are supposed to wear seat belts, not doing that attracts a penalty of Rs 1,000. Evidently, what he meant was that from now on this rule will be enforced. The announcement comes in the wake of the tragic death of business tycoon and former Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry in a road accident. He was not wearing a seat belt, and this is said to be the cause of his demise. The reason the Mercedes-Benz SUV, in which he was traveling, crashed is reported to be the “faulty design” of the bridge. The forensic team investigating the accident has found “an infrastructure issue”: the bridge parapet wall was not properly made. And, of course, the vehicle was found to be over-speeding. The vehicle was sturdy but then a crash beyond a certain speed can have dangerous consequences, as in this case. A car can be made very strong; it can be loaded with safety features; but there are always limits, beyond which safety cannot be ensured. There is no substitute for safe driving and responsible behaviour.

Unfortunately, safe driving is something that is not very common in India, especially in the northern parts. Perhaps, the most dangerous is driving on the wrong side of the road; in order to save a few minutes and some fuel, people often drive on the wrong side, sometimes resulting in accidents, even fatalities. Drunken driving, over-speeding, and zigzag driving also trigger crashes. Besides, the localities near highways make changes to suit their purposes. Traffic cops have to come down heavily on such behaviour, for it causes maximum problems. Every year since 2017 (except 2020 because of the Covid pandemic), over 1.5 lakh people have died in road accidents, one-third of which take place on highways, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). Over-speeding is the biggest culprit, responsible for more than half fatalities. Dangerous and careless driving was the cause for 42,000 deaths in 2021, as per the latest NCRB report. In the last few years, after the law to curb drunk driving was made stricter, people do tend to avoid it. But a lot needs to be done on over-speeding and dangerous driving. Cameras take care of over-speeding. Maybe more cameras are needed. Also, speed limits have to be reasonable; these can be increased where roads are good and wide. Often, traffic police seem to be focused on violations like driving without seat belts and jumping the red light. It is time they also began checking unruly behaviour on roads. Just enforcing seat belts for backseat passengers will not bring down road deaths.