Maruti Suzuki’s nationwide seatbelt survey has thrown up some interesting findings, many of which are downright surprising. After analysing the response of 2,505 respondents across India, the survey reports that South India ranks number one in non-usage of seat belts among drivers, co-drivers and rear passengers.
North India fares much better with just 42 % of car-users not wearing seat belts. In terms of non-usage of seat belts, East India comes second with 79 % of car-users not wearing seat belts while 60 % of those surveyed from West India said that they don’t wear seat belts.
The seat belt is the first layer of safety in a car, and is absolutely vital for everyone in the car to wear them. Not wearing a seat belt exposes the driver and co-passengers of a car to high risks during an accident. The occupants of a car can potentially be thrown around inside a car during an accident, or hit themselves against the interiors of a car.
This can cause serious injuries or even deaths in many cases. People have even been thrown out of cars during an accident because of not wearing seat belts. And many have been run over by other vehicles after being thrown out thus. Wear that seat belt. It can save your life.
Contrary to popular perception, cars with airbags also require the driver and passengers to wear seat belts at all times. This is because many cars have a mechanism in which airbags don’t deploy when seat belts aren’t worn. In many cases, people not wearing seat belts have been seriously injured when airbags have deployed during an accident. All in all, seat belts have to be worn even on cars that have airbags.
RS Kalsi, the Senior Executive Director (Marketing and Sales) at Maruti confirms this,
There have been lot of buzz around air bags, but air bags alone can’t help in protecting passengers. It’s more dangerous without a seat-belt.