Seatbelts for drivers and passengers mandatory in Mumbai from November 1

Seatbelts for all drivers and passengers will become mandatory in Mumbai from Tuesday. The order was issued on October 14 following the amendment to the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act's Section 194(b)(1), which has mandated that any person driving without a seat belt or carrying passengers not wearing the same shall be liable for punishment.

According to the provisions of the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, whosoever drives a motor vehicle without wearing a safety belt or carries passengers not wearing seat belts shall be punished. The Mumbai Traffic Police had given time to all vehicle owners who do not have seat-belt facilities for all to install them by the deadline of October 31.

The implementation comes nearly two months after the death of eminent industrialist Cyrus P. Mistry in a road accident on September 4 ostensibly in a speeding vehicle while travelling from Gujarat to Mumbai, when he was not wearing a seatbelt.

Prior to that, on August 14, prominent Maharashtra politician Vinayak Mete had been killed in a road accident on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway near Raigad, en route to Mumbai. Earlier, the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways had issued the Draft Rules making it incumbent upon all car manufacturers to install seat-belt alarms for all seats in the cars.

"While taking action against motorists and co-passengers, our focus will be to sensitise the drivers and co-passengers found not wearing seat belts," a police official told media.

"Traffic Police have been directed to take action against the drivers not wearing seat belts, but we will issue warnings to four-wheelers which do not have rear seat belts", he added. 

"The Mumbai Traffic Police shall deploy special teams at vantage points to check the compliance to the rule, make random checks of vehicles on the two highways and other roads, at key signals or junctions to ensure all follow the new safety rule," said another department.