Road Ministry issues draft rules for mandatory rear seat belt alarms

The government has been considering enforcing the use of rear seatbelts after Cyrus Mistry, the former chairman of Indian conglomerate Tata Sons, died in a car crash

Representational image of rear seat belt. | Photo Credit: K. Murali Kumar

The Road Transport Ministry has issued draft rules to make it mandatory for car makers to install alarm system for rear seat belts. The last date for public comments on draft rules is October 5, according to the notification.

The government has been considering enforcing the use of rear seatbelts after Cyrus Mistry, the former chairman of Indian conglomerate Tata Sons, died in a car crash recently.

He was sitting in the rear seat and did not have his seat belt on, local media reported, citing police officials.

In India, one person dies every four minutes in road accidents, the World Bank said last year.

While it is already mandatory for all occupants in a car in India, the world's fourth-biggest auto market, to wear a seat belt failing which they can be fined, passengers at the back seldom do and enforcement is also lax.