Wearing seat belt while travelling

The Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and Central Motor  Vehicle Rules, 1993

News: Harsh Vardhan on Munde’s death: Wearing seat-belt could have saved him

Mr.Munde was sitting in the rear seat. Was it required to wear seat belt in the rear seat?  No.

Till 1993, there was no rule for wearing seat belts in India. All the cars manufactured after 1993 are fitted with front seat belts. The rule of fitting seat belts for rear seats was introduced in 2002.

Usage of seat belts –

Rule 138(3) of Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1993 reads as under –

In all motor vehicles, in which seat belts have been provided it shall be ensured that the driver and the person seated in the front seat wear the seat belts while the vehicle is in motion. So, the person sitting in the rear seat is not required to wear seat belt as per the law.

However, as Dr.HarshaVardhan mentioned “Wearing seat belt could have saved Munde. I lost my friend to a misconception. Most people think that the back-seat belts serve only a decorative purpose. In fact wearing them is as necessary as wearing front seat belts. They can save lives in the event of impacts”

Fine:

Section 177 of Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 is applicable for violation of the above rule. The fine for violation is a sum of Rs.100/- for first offence and Rs.300/- on subsequent offence has been provided

Thought for the day

Most of us do wear seat belts while driving the car, not for safety; but to save penalty (fine!).  As I have seen, we all wear seat belt on Bangalore roads (when maximum speed at which you can drive is around 50 Kms/hour). However the moment we get on the highways (when we really start speeding over 100 Km/hr), we tend to remove the seat belts!  Life is precious. So, from today let’s drive carefully (wearing seat belts, of course!) 

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