Public, law enforcers equally to blame for not wearing safety belts

Even though safety belts in cars are meant to protect your life in case of an accident, a majority of Delhi-ites are not convinced of the fact that wearing a safety belt while travelling in a car can actually save your life.

Motown India conducted a painstaking survey in different parts of Delhi over a staggered period of three weeks at different times during the day and found out that not just the ordinary private car drivers, but even law enforcers, government vehicle drivers, truck drivers, bus drivers, and ambulance drivers blatantly flouted safety belt norms.

200,000 vehicles monitored for safety belt compliance

SEATS BELTS IN PRIVATE CARS

In these three weeks more than 200,000 vehicles were monitored for safety belt compliance. Since safety belts are mandatory for those sitting in front, it was observed that while  more than 80pc of those driving private cars wore their seat belts, only 60pc of co passengers sitting in front wore seat belts. Also alarming was the fact that among the co passengers, both men and women were equally to be blamed for their lack of safety sense.

According to a WHO report, India has the highest number of road deaths in the world, More than a 100,000 people die every year in around 4,00,000 accidents that occur on the roads in India. Of these deaths, 25pc can be avoided by wearing seat belts.

According to a Ministry of Road Transport and Highways report released a year or so back, nearly 1.5 lakh Indians died on the roads and the total number of accidents crossed the five-lakh mark.

By law, after March 25, 1994 manufactures were asked to equip cars with front seat belts in India. The rule then extended to cover rear seat belt in 2002. The Use of front seat belt was made compulsory in 2002.

Safety experts say that by wearing front seat belt you reduce the chances of fatal injury by 45%, chances of moderate-to-fatal injury are reduced by 50%. If you are travelling in SUV or van then by wearing rear seat belt chances of fatal injuries are reduced by 73% and children of parents wearing seat belts are 92% safer.

POLICE, MILITARY, PARA MILITARY, GOVERNMENT, AMBULANCE VEHICLES

But when it came to vehicles belonging to police, military or the government, or even ambulance, the record was terrible. More than 80pc of drivers and co-passengers did not wear seat belts. Did not someone say, “Charity begins at home?”  As for military trucks and those of para military forces, they strictly do not seem to believe in seat belts.

DTC BUSES

Delhi’s DTC bus drivers, the ones driving the bright red and orange coloured buses, well more than 90pc of them did not wear seat belts. The same went for truck drivers carrying load.

TAXI SEGMENT

But the record got better as we moved on to the taxi segment. Whether  it was the yellow & black taxi or those from Uber, Ola or private taxis, more than 99pc of the drivers wore seat belts. More than 80pc of Co-passengers travelling in these taxis also wore seat belts.

OFFICERS OF ARMED FORCES

Officers of the armed forces, driving their own personal vehicles wore their seat belts. The compliance was almost 100pc.

REAR SEAT PASSENGERS

When it came to passengers seated in the rear, whether rich or middle class, more than 99pc did not wear seat belts.

 SAFETY BELTS FOR CHILDREN

Also, when it came to children, the record is sadly very terrible. In more than 75pc of cases where children were being driven in cars, they we seated in front without any seatbelts. Children below 10 years or so year of age are not supposed to sit in front.

Again when children were in the rear seat, in more than 90pc cases they were without seat belts. As far as child seats are concerned, in all the cars that carried children, not a single child seat was attached.

 There you go, do we really care for our children?

Apart from the fact that the government has recently increased fines for violating traffic norms from mere Rs 100 to thousands of rupees, the real issue is, we need to wear seat belts because they make a lot of sense. And when I say seat belts, every occupant in the car needs to do so.

The Motown India team dug into the archives of Volvo Cars press room and got a lot of relevant information related to seat belts and child seats. When it comes to safe cars and safety related efforts, we have always felt that Volvo Cars tops the chart.

Volvo Cars was the first car maker to actively test child seats in crash tests as far back as the early 1960s and in 2016 it launched a range of three new child seats with a focus on design, comfort and convenience.

Lotta Jakobsson,  Adjunct Professor, PhD and Senior Technical Leader, Injury Prevention at Volvo Cars Safety Centre in Sweden has stated that the focus of her company is on ensuring that young children travel in the safest manner possible, depending upon their size and age. This means rearward-facing up to the age of at least 3 or 4 years and after that with child seats or booster cushions up to 140 cm in height. The safety benefits are unquestionable, yet many parents unwittingly allow their children to sit forward-facing too early, she said.

Talking about seat belts, Volvo Cars developed the three-point safety belts in the front as standard in 1959, tested the prototype of the first rear-facing child seat in 1964, introduced seat belts in the rear in 1967, introduced three-point safety belts in the rear in 1972 and a rear-facing child seat the same year. In 1986 it got in the three-point safety belt in the middle of the rear seat , got the safety belt pre-tensioner in 1987 by 1993 had three-point inertia-reel safety belt in all seats.

While safety is now paramount for all car manufacturers in India, it’s our terrible habits we need to change.  So next time you drive around, stay belted.

A VIDEO RECORDING OF THIS SURVEY WILL BE POSTED ON WWW.MOTOWNINDIA.COM IN A DAY OR TWO