City police records show 30 lakh cases were registered in 2020 in Bangalore
Bengaluru: The number of cases registered against people not wearing seatbelts has doubled from 2019 to 2020. Bangalore Traffic Police record shows cases registered have jumped from around 15 lakhs in 2019 to around 30 lakhs in 2020.
S.P. Shashikala, ACP Traffic, and Training said last year a lot of people flouted rules during the lockdown. “Rules are made by the police for people’s safety. People thought they could get away for not wearing seatbelts but everyone was booked,” she added.
A Save Live Foundation Survey of 2019 says the total number of passengers killed for not wearing seat-belts in 2017 is 16,876 with Karnataka having the highest number of passenger deaths at 2,957.
Drivers say sometimes they forget to wear seatbelts. Sekhar S B who owns and drives his personal car said, “Sometimes after driving for a long time it becomes difficult to keep wearing seat belts. Also sometimes when driving locally in the neighbourhood allies, I don’t wear a seatbelt.”
Road crashes cause an annual three percent loss to the GDP of the country. The Save Live Foundation survey also shows rear seat-belts can prevent the death of a rear seat passenger by 25 percent. The World Health Organization estimates seat belts can save 45 to 50 percent of front-seat occupants in road accidents across the world. A survey by Maruti Suzuki says 68 percent of Indians do not wear seat belts.
Dr. S. Sathyapal, president of the National Road Safety Organization said that not wearing seatbelts sometimes leads to freak injuries even by smaller impacts which can turn fatal. “It is also very important for people sitting in the back seat to wear seatbelts as well. It is often seen that fatality and injuries are highest for people sitting in the back seat,” he added.
With the number of road accidents increasing every year in India, all the authorities urge the citizens to wear seatbelts and maintain road safety.
