Rear seat-belt rule will be implemented

The Road Safety Department will propose to the government to allow a short grace period for motorists to get rear seatbelts installed and to create awareness among motorists before its implementation.

The department’s director-general Datuk Suret Singh said the rear seat-belt ruling was expected to be enforced in the next few months.

“Maybe during the grace period, the police will advice motorists if they are caught not wearing rear seat belts”, he told reporters after handing out stickers and brochures on the rear seat-belt campaign to motorists at the Sungai Besi toll plaza, here today.

He said cars produced prior to 1993, especially Proton and Perodua models, Saga, Kancil and Kenari which did not have rear seat belts, would be given a grace period of three to five years to install rear seat belts.

“The department has been actively promoting the use of rear seatbelts since last year, and now is the time to move forward,” he added.

Suret said research carried out by the Malaysian Institute for Road Safety found that more than 90 per cent of cars had rear seat belts installed, and he hoped motorists would use the rear seat belts.

“There is also the need to educate motorists not to have more than three passengers at the back at any one time.” The research also found that out of 90 per cent of cars with rear seat belts, nine per cent carried more than three passengers at the back at any one time.

Suret said the enforcement on rear seat belts could prevent 350 deaths per year, according to police statistics on unbelted backseat passenger deaths in road accidents.

“At a speed of 50km/h, drivers wearing seat belts are more likely to die in a crash if their back passengers are unrestrained because the impact from these passengers on the car driver is four times their weight,” he said.