Seat belts, head restraints and safety regulations

Seat belts, head restraints and safety regulations

Subject: Governance

Section:

Context: The death of Cyrus P. Mistry, former Chairman of Tata Sons, in a car crash in Maharashtra’s Palghar district on September 4 has turned the focus on whether compulsory use of seat belts in cars — including by passengers in the rear seat — can save lives during such accidents.

Concept:

How is a seat belt a life saver?

• The focus in the aftermath is on the seat belt. The three-point seat belt engineered by Nils Evar Bohlin, a passive safety device first incorporated into a car by Volvo in 1959, and now standard in cars sold in India, is a low cost restraint system that prevents occupants of a vehicle from being thrown forward in a crash.
• Even if the vehicle is fitted with an airbag, the force at which an unrestrained occupant strikes the airbag can cause serious injuries.
• The seat belt performs many functions, notably slowing the occupant at the same rate as the vehicle, distributing the physical force in a crash across the stronger parts of the body such as the pelvis and chest, preventing collisions with objects within the vehicle and sudden ejection. Newer technologies to “pretension” the belt, sense sudden pull forces and apply only as much force as is necessary to safely hit the airbags.

What role do head restraints play?

• Head restraints, which are found either as adjustable models or moulded into the seats, prevent a whiplash injury. This type of injury occurs mostly when the vehicle is struck from behind, leading to sudden extreme movement of the neck backwards and then forwards. It could also happen vice versa in other circumstances.

How does India regulate and enforce safety?

• On February 11, 2022, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways issued a draft notification providing for three-point seat belts to be provided in all vehicles coming under the M1 category, that is, for carriage of passengers comprising not more than eight seats in addition to the driver’s seat, for vehicles manufactured from October 1. Also, it stipulated relevant Indian Standards to be followed by the manufacturers for both seat belts and reminder systems alerting occupants to wear them.
• What stands out is that the amended Motor Vehicles Act of 2019 already requires the occupants of a passenger vehicle to wear a seat belt. As per Section 194(B) of the Act, 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.
• Evidently, although cars are equipped with seat belts, the enforcement for rear seat occupants is virtually absent in India.
• The toll from non-compliance in India is high, as taxicabs often have missing seat belts. In one of the few questions on the subject asked in Parliament, the Road Transport Ministry said, during 2017, a shocking “26,896 people lost their lives due to non-use of seat belts and 16,876 of them were passengers. No specific data with regard to loss of lives due to non-usage of seat belts by rear seat passengers is available with the Ministry,” it added.
• In the aftermath of the accident in which Cyrus Mistry died, there have been suggestions that automotive technology should bring about compliance by making it impossible to operate the vehicle if seat belts are not fastened. As of July, the European Union’s General Safety Regulation requires new vehicles to incorporate advanced emergency braking technology that launches automatically when a collision is imminent, and intelligent speed assistance to reduce speed suitably besides accident event recorders, all of which are relevant to the Palghar crash. Making high quality dash cameras standard in cars could be a start to help record accidents and establish the cause.

Brasilia Declaration on Road Safety

• The declaration was signed at the Second Global High-Level conference on Road Safety held in Brazil.
• Through the Brasilia Declaration Countries plan to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 3.6: By 2020, halve the number of global deaths and injuries from road traffic accidents.
• United Nations has also declared 2010-2020 as the decade of action for Road Safety.
• Countries should form transport policies in order to favor more sustainable modes of transport such as walking, cycling and using public transport.

Salient Features of the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) act, 2019

• Road Safety: The Actinclude increase penalties for traffic violations. It will act as a deterrent.
• Vehicle Fitness: The Act includes a provision that mandates automated fitness testing for vehicles. This will improve road safety by removing unfit vehicles.
  • The motor vehicles act also proposes penalty for deliberate violation of safety and environmental regulations.
  • The actprovides regulation of the process of testing and certification of automobiles.
  • It also proposes to bring agenciesissuing automobile approvals to be brought under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and vehicle testing standards to be set.
• Environmental and road health: The Act mandates the recall of defective motor vehicles if the defect may cause a threat to the environment, or the driver or other people on the road.
• Road Safety Board:Act provides for the setting up of a National Road Safety Board by the central government. The National Road Safety Board will advise the central and state governments on all aspects of road safety and traffic management.
• Protection of Good Samaritan: The Act incorporates Good Samaritan guidelines in order to help road accident victims. The act defines good samaritan as a person who provides emergency medical or non-medical assistance to a road accident victim and provides rules to prevent harassment of such a person. Such a person will not be liable for any civil or criminal action for any injury to or death of an accident victim, caused due to their negligence in providing assistance to the victim.
• Compensation for road accident victims: The central government will develop a scheme for cashless treatment of road accident victims during golden hour (time period of up to one hour following a traumatic injury), during which the likelihood of preventing death through prompt medical care is the highest.
• Compulsory insurance: The act requires the central government to constitute a Motor Vehicle Accident Fund, to provide compulsory insurance cover to all road users in India.
• National Transportation Policy: The central government may develop a National Transportation Policy, in consultation with state governments. The Policy will establish a planning framework for road transport and will specify priorities for the transport system.
• Taxi aggregators: The Act defines aggregatorsas digital intermediaries or market places which can be used by passengers to connect with a driver for transportation purposes (taxi services). These aggregators will be issued licenses by state governments. Further, they must comply with the Information Technology Act, 2000.