Hyderabad: The importance of strapping on seat belts and wearing helmets is often overlooked by most motorists, while enforcement agencies tend not to focus on the traffic rule violations.
The meagre penalty actually encourages motorists to ignore rules. Officials say that Saturday’s fatal accident involving film producer Nandamuri Janakiram, the son of N. Harikrishna, was a major one, but his chances would have improved if the airbag had activated or if he had been wearing the seatbelt.
Former Union minister Yerrannaidu and former MP Lal Jan Pasha, who were killed in vehicle mishaps on highways earlier, were also not wearing the seat belts.
The city has seen 380 four-wheeler crashes, Cyberabad has seen 133 cars fatal car mishaps in the last 10 months. Incredibly, the number of mish-aps involving four wheelers are twice the number of mishaps involving autorickshaws, buses and trucks put together.
Investigators say that in most cases of fatal four-wheeler crashes, the victims were not wearing seat belts.
The city police attributes the failure of enforcement to the average Hyderabadi’s laxity towards precautions.
Enforcement agencies hope that tougher amendments to the Motor Vehicles Act it proposes to increase the penalty for not belting up to Rs 5,000 from Rs 100 could force compliance.
Experts say enforcement alone will not work, there should be efforts to create awareness among motorists.
