Celebrities are campaigning for road safety, says Nitin Gadkari
New Delhi:
Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari announced on Tuesday, two days after Cyrus Mistry died in a car crash near Mumbai.
Mr Mistry, former Chairman of Tata Sons, was in the back seat and was not wearing a seat belt when his speeding Mercedes crashed into the median in the Palghar district of Maharashtra on Sunday.
“Also, it’s mandatory to wear seat belts in the back seat, but people don’t. There will be sirens if people in the back seats don’t buckle up like in the front seats. And if they don’t wear them.” there is a fine,” Mr Gadkari said in an exclusive interview with NDTV, emphasizing that “whenever there is a loss, a life must be saved”.
Mr. Gadkari said that making seat belts mandatory for rear-seat occupants was not an incentive, but rather spreading awareness about mandatory seat belts. By 2024, he said, the goal is to reduce road deaths by 50%.
Responding to a direct question about what the penalty would be for not wearing a back lanyard, the minister said, “The minimum fine is Rs 1,000.”
When asked if the enforcement of fines is problematic because the states have a say in the matter, the minister said, “No. I don’t think so. They’ve always supported us.”
“There are cameras and anywhere people who are not watching can easily be caught,” Mr. Gadkari said.
When asked if the installation of mandatory rear-seat airbags would increase costs, the minister stressed that saving lives is very important.
He emphasized: “The cost for 1 airbag is 1,000, for 6 airbags is 6,000. The more production, the lower the cost. The price is not important, the important thing is human life.”
As a rule, airbags are mandatory for the front passenger and driver in India. Since January 2022, the government has made it mandatory to install 6 airbags in every passenger car with a maximum passenger limit of 8 airbags.
The minister said celebrities are campaigning for road safety and added that he seeks cooperation from the media.
“I’m really sorry and feel bad. We should learn from it and learn from it,” Mr. Gadkari said of Cyrus Mistry’s death in a car accident.
More than 59,000 people have died and 80,000 seriously injured in road accidents in Maharashtra in less than 5 years, data released by highway police today.
According to the report titled ‘Road Accidents in India – 2020’, more than 11% of the deaths and injuries were caused by not wearing seat belts, while 30.1% of the deaths and 26% of the people were injured. injuries from not using helmets in 2020.
