The recent tragic death of Cyrus Mistry has drawn the attention of the government and the luxury Automobile brand owners to the laws of driving as well as the safety mechanism of the passengers in a car.
A day after the death of former Tata Sons Chairman, Cyrus Mistry, in a road accident, the Minister of Road and Transport, Nitin Gadkari said that his government is working to make safer highways by redesigning roads, mandating six airbags in cars and improving seat belt compliances.
Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari talked about the road safety measures and negligence by the people after the death of the famous industrialist Cyrus Mistry in a car crash. Mr Gadkari claimed, "People in India do not wear seatbelts while sitting in the rear seat, which was the case with Cyrus Mistry that took his life".
"Cyrus Mistry was a close friend, making any comment on the reason behind the accident will be too early to say; however the investigation is on and the prime agenda for the nation is road safety," Nitin Gadkari said in an interview.
Speaking at IAA’s Global Summit in Delhi, he said, “We have taken a lot of decisions by mandating six airbags in cars and are in the process of making a law for that”.
He exposed the double standards of companies on security by stating, “A lot of our companies are exporting their vehicles from India with six airbags. But when the same vehicles are sold in India, they have just four airbags. Is there no value in life for the people of our country”.
About redesigning roads, he said, “The DPR of the roads are defective, so we have taken a lot of strict action now. We are taking a lot of decisions related to the curves and identifying black spots”.
Cyrus Mistry and Jehangir Pandole, Director at KPMG Global Strategy Group, were killed in a car accident on National Highway 48 while travelling from Gujarat to Mumbai. Reports suggest that “the two deceased seated in the back were not wearing seat belts due to which their airbags didn’t deploy. When the car crashed, they got jammed between the front and back seats”.
The same draws attention to the strictness of seat belt rules within the country. On which the Minister said, “Earlier, there was a penalty for not wearing a seat belt for the driver and co-passenger only, but we have updated the law to include rear seat passengers as well”.
In 2016, a crash test conducted by Global New Car Assessment Programme stated that several car models in India failed to meet international safety standards. The tested cars were Maruti, Hyundai, Mahindra and Renault. According to the test results, the majority of the models lack basic safety equipment such as airbags, and all models received zero ratings for structural stability.
Describing the very low safety standards in Indian cars, the GNCAP had recommended withholding the launch of those cars that do not perform the minimum test of safety. Dilapidated road conditions, intense traffic, unregulated traffic rules, and unskilled drivers are major causes of accidents. But, the critical factor that results in fatal accidents is the unavailability of safety standards.
The luxurious car brand Mercedes, in which the accident took place and lead to the death of Cyrus Mistry has raised major concerns regarding the safety features of the brand as well as other non-premium brands in India.
According to a recent road ministry report, the number of persons killed and injured due to not wearing a seat belt during 2020 stood at 15,146.
According to National Crime Records Bureau data, India recorded 3,74,397 accidental deaths in 2020, of which 35% were due to road crashes. Road accidents are the combined results of reckless driving, poor road design and qualities and lack of safety features in vehicles, which is no less the death counts in an epidemic.
The car crash accidents and road accidents need to be looked out for as an immediate concern for the government and major automotive industries within the country, especially after the death of the Business Tycoon Cyrus Mistry. Due to this Nitin Gadkari pledges to completely change the safety regulations and revamp the roads to make them safer.