Buckle Up

It looks like the Road Safety Department (RSD) concluded that the usage of rear seatbelt will be implemented around the third quarter of this year. This is a great idea because the rear seatbelt can help save a lot of lives and prevent passengers from flung out from the cabin in an event of an accident, thus reducing injuries and casualties.


The RSD will also propose to the Government to allow a short grace period for motorists to get rear seatbelts installed and be “prepared mentally” before its implementation. Personally i think that this law should be implemented a long time ago. In a crash, unbelted rear passengers increase nearly five fold the risk of death for belted front passengers.

Currently some 90% of vehicles on the road come fitted with rear safety belts. However, some cars doesn't have rear seatbelt installed like old cars and those cars without the rear seatbelt installed will be given a grace period to the car owners to install the seatbelts as soon as possible.

The ruling will begin with a 3 month grace period where a warning will be issued instead of a summon, after of which real enforcement will begin. RSD director general Datuk Suret Singh says that the RSD estimates risk of heavy injuries of death can be reduced by 50% with this new rule, or about 350 lives a year based on 2007 statistics.

So guys, buckle up and enjoy the ride!

Source 1 , Source 2