The Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (Miros) would like to state that awareness and compliance to the law requiring rear passengers to wear their seatbelts have grossly declined.

From 48.15 % in February 2009, a month after the law was enforced on Jan 1, 2009, the rate of compliance had dropped drastically to 13.9 % in October 2009.

Awareness is so appalling that some motorists even believe that implementation of the rear seatbelt law has been put on hold.

This non-compliance and lack of awareness is extremely alarming, and reveals that car owners and drivers have done little to embrace road safety as a way of life and discipline. If anything, compliance and awareness seem to be borne more out of the fear of being penalised.

While the law compels rear passengers to buckle-up, the authorities had opted for the middle ground where instead of penalising motorists for non-compliance, the authorities opted to first educate them of the importance of wearing rear seatbelts. Regular campaigns have been carried out to enforce the life-saving importance of wearing the rear seatbelts.

While many are aware of, realise, understand and appreciate the importance of wearing the rear seatbelts, it is unfortunate that only a small percentage have translated this into action despite being constantly reminded.

There is no excuse for the non-compliance as almost 90 % of vehicles on the road in Malaysia are equipped with rear seatbelts, while 85 % of vehicle occupants have access to rear seatbelts.

In a study conducted by Miros on ‘Rear Seatbelt Availability and Accessibility in Malaysia’ that subsequently led to the introduction of the rear seatbelt law, it was also revealed that almost 90 % of the passenger vehicles carry only three passengers or less. Only 10% of road users who carry additional passengers would have difficulty complying with the law but this, however, is addressed by the law which exempts the wearing of rear seatbelts for vehicles registered before Jan 1, 1995 that may not be equipped with rear seatbelts.

Statistics reveal that Malaysia experiences approximately 350 deaths due to accidents related to unbelted rear passengers.

Findings into crash investigations conducted by Miros and later cited in the study showed that in numerous accidents, the passenger compartment of a vehicle involved in a crash remained intact with sufficient survival space for the rear passengers.

Unfortunately the rear seat was either not fitted with rear seatbelts, or the rear seatbelts were found to have not been used by the occupants which could have significantly minimised injury and potentially saved lives.

In 2005 for example, from the 192 seatbelt-related road accident fatalities recorded, 173 involved unbelted rear passengers. Only 19 fatalities involved rear passengers who wore their seatbelts.

The Miros study projected that if 20% of road users in Malaysia were to use rear seatbelts, 21 lives could be saved per year, while the compliance rate of 80% had the potential of saving 84 lives per year.

The rear seatbelt is defined as a passive safety feature that prevents occupants from sustaining injury due to internal collision inside the vehicle. Apart from reducing injury severity of passengers, rear seatbelts have also been proven to be save the lives of front passengers.

In crashes, front passengers secured by seatbelts are five-times more likely to die from being hit in the back of the head as a result of unbelted rear passengers being thrown forward by the violent force that can be equivalent to almost three and a half tonnes. International studies have also revealed that there is an 84% chance the unbelted rear passengers could kill the front passengers and themselves during a collision.

The writer is director-general, Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (Miros).