Buckle Up

The story:-

Transport Ministry proposes making wearing of rear seatbelt mandatory

Transport Ministry proposes making wearing of rear seatbelt mandatory

SERDANG: The Transport Ministry will propose that the Government makes it mandatory for passengers to wear the rear seatbelt in all passenger cars.

The move is hoped to reduce the number of fatalities during accidents. Transport Minister Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy said although the Government understood reasons why the public would be against it, the ruling had to be put in place in the interest of the public.

"It is definitely something we want to put in place as soon as possible," he said.
According to Chan, the main reason why the public opposes such a ruling is that only three passengers would be allowed to sit in the backseat.

Road Safety Department director-general Datuk Suret Singh pointed out that study by the Malaysian Institute for Road Safety Research in rural and urban areas as a whole showed that the availability of rear seatbelts was greater than the number of occupants.

"For this reason, we think it can be done," Suret said, adding that the first time there was a move to make the wearing of rear seatbelts compulsory was in 1993

Beating around the Bush

Since the Ministry have finally started to look into this, what about the motorcyclist who carry more than 2 people? Those in Malaysia would have seen this many times – the father in the front, the mum at the back and the children sandwiched in the middle (no helmet and with mum holding the kid with both hands).

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Then again, I wonder why some member of the public is against buckling up at the back – wearing a safety belt at the back makes good sense unless the back area is being wrongly used to stuff as many people as they can. Buckle or not buckle, it is still dangerous.

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By the way, did someone say that they tried in 1993? What went wrong? Another “NATO” thing?