Only 25% of motorists in India strap on seatbelts, lowest usage in SUVs: Maruti Suzuki study

Seatbelts save lives but the shocking findings of a recent study by India’s largest carmaker reveal scant regard for this primary restraining device and basic life-saving mechanism in a moving vehicle, despite the legal mandate enforced by the government.

According to the World Health Organisation, wearing a seatbelt reduces the risk of fatality among drivers and front seat passengers by 45-50 percent and the risk of serious injuries comes down by 45 percent. Among rear seated passengers, seatbelts reduce fatal and serious injuries by 25 percent. What’s more, in a vehicle equipped with airbags, if the occupants have not strapped up their seatbelts at the time of an accident, they could end up being injured (by the airbag). Thus, the role of seatbelt is even more critical.

Road fatality is one of the leading causes of death globally and in India, as per latest government data, in 2016 there were 480,652 road accidents that injured 494,624 individuals and claimed 150,785 lives. This translates to an average of 1,317 accidents and 413 accident deaths taking place on Indian roads each day – or 55 accidents and 17 deaths every hour. Last year, a total of 5,638 people died purely due to non-usage of seatbelts.

Thus, with a view to promote seatbelt usage among motorists, Maruti Suzuki India commissioned a study – ‘SeatBelt Usage in India – 2017’ – which was conducted in August 2017 across 17 cities in all four zones and comprising a mix of metros, Tier 1 and Tier 1 cities. The sample size was 2,505 respondents comprising 1,122 drivers, 946 co-drivers and 437 rear-seated passengers.

Key research study findings
- Seatbelt usage rate found to be as low as 25% among passenger vehicle users (driver, co-driver and rear passengers).
- 75% people claim they don’t use the seatbelt while travelling in a passenger vehicle.
- 43% people claim they never use a seatbelt.
- Among drivers, seatbelt usage rate merely 28%.
- 35% of the respondents claimed to never use a seatbelt at all.
- Non-usage of seatbelt as high as 70% for co-driver seat occupants.
- Seatbelt usage among rear seat occupants was just 4%.

Gender-specific data shows that the rate of non-usage of seatbelts among female drivers is highest at 81% compared to male drivers at 68%; non-usage rate of rear seatbelts is highest among male occupants at 97% compared to females at 92%.

According to the age profile, the non-usage rate for driver seatbelt is highest in the 46 to 55 age group (74%), followed by 26 to 35 years (71%), 36 to 45 years (71%) and 18 to 25 (68%). However, non-usage rate of co-driver seatbelt is highest among respondents in the 26 to 35 age group (73%), followed by 36 to 45 years (71%), 18 to 25 years(70%) and 46 to 55 years (64%).

An interesting finding revealed by the study is that non-usage of seatbelt is highest among the respondents who drive an SUV – 77%, followed by 72% in hatchbacks, 68% in sedans and 59% among luxury car drivers. For co-driver seat occupants, the non-usage rate is 74% in SUVs, 71% in sedans, 66% in hatchbacks and 64% luxury vehicles.

Also, motorists who are single display a higher rate of non-usage at 100% while those with children have a lower rear seatbelt non-usage rate of 83%. However, overall, the rear seatbelt non-usage numbers are very high at 96%.

An illustrative video below reveals the impact of a vehicle crash on an unelted rear-seat passenger.

Maruti Suzuki India's Seatbelt Usage Study reveals multiple reasons cited by the respondents for not using the seatbelt. 

Top reasons cited for belting up 
Legal enforcement tuirns out to be the biggest contributor towards making motorists use the seatbelt (77%). While 64 percent of car passengers consider it as a self-safety device, 63 percent respondents had prior experience of seeing how seatbelts had saved lives and hence their use; and 56 percent felt that encouragement from family and friends was one of the key reasons for them to use the safety device.  

The report concludes that in India, 75% of people do not use the seatbelt when driving. There is a high level of non-usage of seatbelt by drivers in Tier 2 towns (78%) compared to the metros (74%) and Tier 1 (61%) cities. South India has the highest seatbelt non-usage rate at 89%, which is attributed mainly to Coimbatore and Bangalore.

The findings reveal that most drivers don’t use seatbelts due to weak law enforcement and also because they think it will impact their image; amongst co-drivers, the seatbelt non-usage was 70%. Here too, Tier 2 towns were the lowest at 87% for co-driver seatbelt non-usage. However, in metros, the co-driver seatbelt non-usage was 50%.

A good 96% of rear passengers do not use seatbelts when sitting in a moving car.  And there were more of rear passengers who feel that the seatbelt is not a safety device.

Finally, when it comes to safety on the roads, it is a no-brainer that the combined efforts of the government, law enforcement agencies and vehicle manufacturers can only work if vehicle users adhere to safety practices and traffic rules.

Also read: Jean Todt, FIA president and UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Road Safety: ‘India in dire need of reforms in its Motor Vehicle Act to improve road safety.’