Over 90% of people don't wear rear seat belt in India

Over 90% people in India do not use rear seat belt despite it being mandatory, said a survey.

Although 92.8 % respondents said they were aware of the safety benefits of helmets for children, only 20.1% respondents owned such a helmet, said a study titled 'Rear Seat Belt Usage and Child Road Safety in India' released by Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari on Friday.

As per the Union Road Transport and Highways latest report, 9,408 children lost their lives to road crashes in 2017. This translates to nearly 26 child deaths on Indian roads every day, the minister said.

The report was prepared after interviewing 6,306 people in 11 cities including, Bengaluru, Kolkata and New Delhi. The survey said that usage of rear seat belts was very low despite over 70% of people affirming to the presence of rear seat belts.

Only 27.7% of respondents were aware that rear seat belt usage is already mandated under the current law in India. Further, 91.4% of respondents felt the need for a strong child road safety law in India.

In Bengaluru, usage of rear seat-belts was found to be as low as 2.1%. Among the respondents surveyed, only 9.1% said that they wore seat belts regularly.

The two top reasons for not wearing rear seat-belts were non-availability of rear seat-belts and "absence of law mandating the use of rear seat-belts."

More than 60% respondents believe spreading awareness will increase rear seat-belt usage, and about 5% said that there should be a fine for non-usage.

Close to 80% of the children respondents said that they indulge in underage driving frequently and more than 70% said that they have their parents’ approval to drive on their own.

However, more than 60% parents are opposed to a law discouraging underage driving, while 60% respondents feel roads are unsafe for children.