India Insists On Seat Belts After Cyrus Mistry's Death In car Crash

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India Insists On Seat Belts After Cyrus Mistry's Death In car Crash
08 Sep 2022
6 min read

News Synopsis

The death in a car accident of Indian billionaire Cyrus Mistry has sparked a debate about road safety – and stricter enforcement of laws. Nitin Gadkari, the Federal Transport Minister, said on Tuesday that people sitting in car back seats without seat belts would be fined soon. The government is also planning to make it mandatory for automakers to install rear seat belt alarms.

"Because of this Cyrus accident, we have taken a decision... an alarm will continue to beep until people sitting in the rear seats wear a seat belt," Mr. Gadkari said on Tuesday.

Cyrus Mistry, 54, died on Sunday after his car collided with a divider on a highway on his way from Gujarat to Mumbai. According to local media reports,  Mistry and a co-passenger in the back seat, who also died, were not wearing seat belts. Seat belts are necessary by Indian law for all car occupants, but this is rarely enforced for people in the back seats.

Every year, hundreds of thousands of people died in road accidents in India; according to government data, the toll in 2021 was more than 150,000, an average of 18 per hour.

Many people, including Indian businessman Anand Mahindra, tweeted that they would always wear seat belts even if they were in the back seat; the Road Transport Ministry's official Twitter handle thanked Mr Mahindra for "bringing attention to the topic of road safety."

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