Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) today launched a social campaign across the country to promote use of safety belt while driving.
As per a survey commissioned by the carmaker across 17 major Indian cities, only 25 per cent of car occupants were found to be wearing the seat belt regularly.
"Seat belt is a primary safety system in a car and several studies show that its regular use can bring down injuries and fatalities in road accidents," MSI MD & CEO Kenichi Ayukawa said in a statement.
Through the company's social campaign, 'PehniKya', MSI wants to persuade car users to follow this simple safety step, he added.
"Based on the findings of our research, we believe that an effective communication campaign across platforms, together with strict enforcement, will convince car users to make seat belt use a habit and support the governments efforts for road safety," Ayukawa said.
The survey concluded that use of seat belt is high in few cities where enforcement is stringent and appallingly low in the rest of the country.
Besides weak enforcement, the key reasons for not wearing a seat belt include lack of awareness of its benefits. A seat belt will negatively affect image was another reason in the survey.
As per the data collated by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, giving seat belt a miss led to 5,638 accident deaths in the country last year.
According to World Health Organisation (WHO), seat belts are the primary restraint system that can reduce the risk of fatality by 45-60 per cent.
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