Beginning Tuesday, the Mumbai traffic police will strictly enforce the rule making it mandatory for all drivers and passengers of motor vehicles to wear seat-belts in the metropolis.
In line with the order issued by them on October 14, the city police will implement the amendment to the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act's Section 194 (b) (1), which has mandated that any person driving without a seat belt or carrying passengers not wearing the same shall be liable for punishment.
The Mumbai Traffic Police had given time to all vehicle owners who do not have seat-belt facility for all to install them by the deadline of October 31.
Ahead of the start of the implementation of the “seat belt must” rule, a senior traffic police official said: “We will deploy special squads at vantage points to check the compliance to the rule. We will also make random checks of vehicles on the highways and other main roads, at key signals or junctions to ensure all follow the new safety rule”.
The preparations by the Mumbai traffic police to enforce “seat belt must” rule comes in the midst of a request by the Western India Automobile Association (WIAA) to delay the implementation of the rule on the ground that there was not adequate awareness among the vehicle owners about the new rule.
While lauding the decision to enforce “seat belt must” rule for motor vehicles in Mumbai, former MP and WIAA Chairman-Emeritus Y P Trivedi said: “The move is very good from the safety point of view. But, there should have been a proper awareness among the vehicle owners before implementing this decision. Mumbai is not fully ready for the rule. If anything, the rule will cause inconvenience to the vehicle users”.
Trivedi, who is also the former President of All India Automobile Association (AIAA), urged the Mumbai traffic police and transport officials to adopt a lenient attitude towards the offenders at least till December 31. “Beginning January 1, 2023, the traffic police should come down heavily on the rule violators. This is essential because many of the old vehicles still don’t have seat-belts in the rear seats,” he said.
It may be recalled that the death of eminent industrialist Cyrus P Mistry in a road accident on September 4 while travelling in a speeding vehicle from Gujarat to Mumbai, without wearing a seat-belt had sparked an intense debate on road safety. On his part, Union Minister for Road Transport Nitin Gadkari had said that henceforth wearing seat-belts would be mandatory for all passengers in a car failing which a penalty would be imposed.
On September 21, the Ministry of road, transport and highway issued draft rules making it compulsory for carmakers to install seat belt alarms in all seats for the cars.
In its notification, the Mumbai Police said that whoever drives a motor vehicle without wearing a safety belt or carries passengers not wearing seat belts shall be punishable.
Through a notification issued on October 14, the Mumbai traffic police had stated: "All motor vehicle drivers and all commuters in vehicles, whoever travels on the road of Mumbai City are hereby informed that, it will be mandatory for drivers and all passengers to wear seat belts while traveling from November 1, 2022. Otherwise, action will be taken under section 194(B)(1) of the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act 2019".