Both Cyrus Mistry and his co-passenger in the rear seat of the Mercedes vehicle were not wearing seat belts at the time of the fatal accident.
Former Tata Sons chairman and prominent business person Cyrus Mistry was killed in a road crash on Sunday sending shockwaves across the country. Mistry was riding in a high-end Mercedes SUV which had a 5-star rating. The two people occupying the front seats were injured but escaped alive. However, Mistry and his friend Jahangir Pandole were in the rear seats and lost their lives in the accident.
Preliminary probe has revealed that the two were not wearing seat belts. The tragic and untimely demise of Mistry sparked a dialogue on the general lax attitude when it comes to fastening seat belts in the rear seats of vehicles.
Mistry wasn't wearing a seat belt. It appears that he must have been thrown in front at great speed when the car crashed into a divider. A video uploaded on Twitter showing what happens when passengers in the rear seat are not wearing seat belts and the car is involved in a high speed crash. The video of a crash test with a life-size dummy being flown to the front was shared widely as several users highlighted that almost nobody ever wears seat belts when travelling on the back seats of a car.
In fact, wearing of seat belts is not just mandatory for front seats but also in the rear seats as per Indian law. While most might not be aware of it and even traffic policemen do not generally monitory people for the same, not wearing a seat belt by passengers sitting in rear seats attracts a fine of Rs 1,000 under Rule 138 (3) of the Central Motor Vehicle Rules (CMVR).
Industrialist Anand Mahindra also emphasised on the importance of wearing seat belts even in rear seats, taking a public resolve to follow the safety measure. “I resolve to always wear my seat belt even when in the rear seat of the car. And I urge all of you to take that pledge too. We all owe it to our families,” the Mahindra Group chairman tweeted on Monday.
54-year-old Mistry, who was the youngest scion of the $30 billion Shapoorji Pallonji Group, died in the accident when the person driving the car he was seated in lost control while trying to overtake another vehicle from the wrong side at a high speed. Mistry was travelling with his friends from Ahmedabad in Gujarat to Mumbai when the accident occured on a bridge over the Surya river in Maharashtra's Palghar district.
His death was condoled by people from across sections and sectors with tributes led by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi among other political and industry heavyweights.
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(With inputs from agencies)
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