Delhi Police to fine cars without rear seat belts & motorcycles without rear view mirrors

The West Delhi Traffic Police will be on a 10-day drive to catch the violators who are not wearing seatbelts while sitting in the rear seats of a car and motorcycle riders without rearview mirrors. This is being done to increase the safety of the passengers and the riders. Both the things are now mandated by West Delhi Police. They will be fining the violators by giving them tickets. “This is not only to ensure traffic discipline, but also to reduce fatal accidents. A majority of riders are not aware that riding without mirrors is a violation of traffic rules,” said Narendra Holkar, Joint Commissioner of Transport.

As per section 5 and 7 of the Central Motor Vehicles Act, all vehicles should have rear view mirrors. Many people remove their rearview mirrors because of cosmetic purpose. They think that the motorcycles look better without rearview mirrors. This is not a good thing to do. After all, it can be a life or death scenario. It is important for a rider to know what is behind him. Sometimes people do not look before changing lane which can be very dangerous as the person coming from behind can hit you. Some people just turn and try to see if someone is behind, this is also a bad practice as it requires you to take your eyes off the road which can be very dangerous. If you have rearview mirrors installed, all it takes is just a glance at a rearview mirror to see what is coming from behind and if it safe or not to change the lane.

Speaking of the other rule that the traffic police will be now looking is that if the rear occupants are wearing a seatbelt or not. The Motor Vehicle Act, 1988, states, “it shall be ensured that the driver, and the person seated in the front seat or the persons occupying front-facing rear seats, as the case may be, wear the seat belts while the vehicle is in motion”. The Central Motor Vehicles Act makes rear-view mirrors mandatory for all motor vehicles. This is not a new rule, it is just people who have not been sincere and the traffic police were not so strict about it till now. However, from now on the traffic police will be looking out for violators.

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According to the study conducted by Nissan India and SaveLIFE Foundation, only 7 percent of occupants sitting in rear seat wear seatbelts. The study was done across 11 major cities of India. It is not like people are not aware of the rear seat belts, they just choose not to wear them. 81 percent people from the study knew that the rear seat belts exists and is there to protect them in case of an accident. Wearing or not wearing a seatbelt can be a difference between life and death during an accident. In 2016, seat belts saved 15,000 lives according to NHTSA. The Regional Transport Authority of Delhi also mandated high-security registration plate (HSRP) and colour-coded fuel stickers recently.

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