Delhi Police has become one of the first to implement a fine for not wearing seatbelts in the rear seat of cars. According to a NDTV report, vehicle owners are liable to be fined Rs 1,000 should they be caught not wearing a seatbelt when sitting in the back. Till now, not wearing seatbelts in the front seats had attracted fines and penalties. In fact, Delhi Police has already launched a drive in the Capital, imposing fines on people not wearing seatbelts in the rear seat, according to the report.
Also read: Rear Seatbelts Will Be Mandatory: Nitin Gadkari
The enforcement of the rear seatbelt regulation in Delhi comes in the wake of the accident on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway that claimed the life of former Tata Sons Chairman Cyrus Mistry. Mistry was reportedly not wearing a seatbelt while seated in the back seat when the car, travelling at high speed, met with an accident.
Also read: India Asks Amazon To Remove Seatbelt Alarm Blockers In Road Safety Push
In the days after the accident, there has been a push towards the adoption of more safety tech in vehicles including calling for 6 airbags to be fitted to vehicles. More importantly, the focus is now on the effectiveness and safety provided by wearing seat belts in the rear seat. Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways recently said that wearing seatbelts in the back seat would be made mandatory in the country with violators to be fined though an actual amount wasn’t discussed at the time. Newer reports put the fine amount to be set at Rs 1,000.
Gadkari recently also revealed that the Indian Government had approached e-commerce giant Amazon to halt the sales of devices designed to disable the seatbelt alarm in cars.
