These are some of the facts that have come out of a report by Nissan India and SaveLIFE Foundation recently. The study titled ‘Rear Seat-Belt Usage and Child Road Safety in India’ was released by Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways. An observational survey conducted alongside at strategic locations in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Jaipur, Kolkata, and Lucknow, further revealed that 98% respondents were, in fact, not using their rear-seat belt.
The report gains significance in the light of the proposed Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, which aims to reduce the number of accidents by bringing in stringent laws.
Piyush Tewari, Founder and CEO, SaveLIFE Foundation, elaborates on the existing Central Motor Vehicles Rules, which mandates the manufacture and use of seatbelts on the front seat, as well as front-facing rear seats.
“However, it does not take into its ambit rear seats which are either side or rear-facing. In order to include vehicles with such rear seats in its ambit, an amendment has been proposed in the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill. Section 194 (B) of the Bill specifies that ‘Whoever drives a motor vehicle without wearing a safety belt or carries passengers not wearing seat belts shall be punishable with a fine of one thousand rupees’. However, what is imperative is that the enforcement of the same includes use of seat belts on all kinds of rear seats,” he adds.
SaveLIFE is an independent, non-profit organisation working in the area of road safety and emergency medical care.
Bangalore:01/02/2012: Bangalore Traffic Police create awanress on seat belt on Cubbon Road, on 01, February,2012. Photo:V Sreenivasa Murthy
Going by the number of accidents on Indian roads, there appears to be an urgent need to address the issue. Explaining what triggered the survey, Thomas Kuehl, President, Nissan India Operations, said, “Currently, India is considered as the global road accident capital, clocking 17 deaths and 53 crashes every hour, and it is alarming when you hear such statistics on road accidents in India. While there is considerable amount of awareness and communication around use of seat belts, there is almost negligible focus in using rear seat belts.”
Kuehl says that Nissan plans to use the report’s findings to drive awareness among people about road safety rules. The survey has come about by covering 11 Indian cities and recording 6,306 face-to-face interviews, 100 in-depth expert interviews, two focused group discussions and on-site observations to gauge compliance of CBSE School Bus guidelines, as well as usage of rear seat belts. Nissan has already kicked off a campaign #HaveYouClickedToday, under which it will focus on reaching out and educating over 2,00,000 lakh children in 240 schools across 12 cities on the use of rear seat belts and road safety.
Child safety on Indian roads is another contentious issue that came to the fore in the report. According to the data released by MoRTH, 9,408 children lost their lives to road crashes in the year 2017 alone, which meant that nearly 26 children died on roads every day.
School buses were also brought into the fold, and around 100 school buses/vans were observed, of which 69 were private school buses/vans, 18 belonged to government-aided schools and 13 were government school vehicles. About 330 school vehicle drivers were surveyed across 11 cities and in-depth interviews were conducted with 33 school principals/vice-principals and transport managers to get a perspective on the issue.
