Proton spend RM7 million to keep Malaysians safe

Company will install centre rear seat belt for free on 226,000 Saga and Gen.2, Road Safety Department is optimistic other safety features such as ABS and airbag will become standard feature in the near future

I certainly hope that the 226,000 or so owners of Proton cars that qualify for the free-retrofit programme will appreciate what the national car company is doing and will quickly take up the offer.

Road Safety Department Director General, Datuk Suret Singh says that the Government will enforce the rule on Jan 1, 2009 and expects to see between 80 and 90 per cent compliance as we welcome the new year.

Suret and Transport Ministry Deputy DG trying out rear seatbelts in a Proton Gen.2

He also explained that the department is looking to improve the lvel of safety on locally sold cars and the first step is to get all Proton and Perodua high-end models to come with twin airbags and anti-lock brakes.

“Proton and Perodua has agreed to this and we are optimistic that these features will trickle down to all cars sold,” he said.

Suret praised Proton for their free-retrofit programme and urged Malaysians to start wearing rear seatbelts as soon as possible.

When asked about how the enforcement agencies will view an unbelted fourth or fifth passenger at the rear, Suret said they will not issue a compound for fourth or subsequent rear passengers who are unbelted but said that they could be found guilty of breaking laws regarding maxiumum number of passengers.

“They may get a summon under those laws,” he said.

Personally I think that the rear seatelt law should be enforced strictly and if people want to pack their cars with more than five people there isn’t much that we can do because not everyone can afford to own or run two car.

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National car company, Proton Berhad recently launched their free retrofitting of the rear third seatbelt in anticipation of the January 1 deadline for enforcement.

The programme covers 226,930 units of original Saga and Gen-2 models manufactured between 2004 and 2008.

These cars are fitted with only two rear seatbelts.

With the arrival of the new year, the Government will enforce the law requiring all passengers to buckle up.

Cars that are not sold with centre rear seat belts are given a three-year grace period to have them fitted.

According to Road Safety Department Director General, Datuk Suret Singh, the law requires that all three seatbelts be used if there are three rear passengers. If there are more than three passengers, they will not be fined as the number of seatbelts are limited to three.

“While we will not issue a summon for the fourth or fifth rear passenger that does not wear a seatbelt, they may actually run foul of another law that determines the maximum number of passengers that the vehicle can follow.

Suret is optimistic that the rate of compliance will quickly reach between 80 and 90 per cent, based on the result of surveys conducted by the department.

“Our target is to have 10 per cent compliance but from our study we know that the usage of front seatbelt has reached between 80 and 90 per cent and that is what we believe will happen with the rear seatbelt.

He praised Proton for their free retrofit programme, saying that it will contribute greatly towards reducing road accident deaths in the future.

Suret said Governmetn statitics show that 350 rear passengers  died last year as a result of not buckling up while 700 suffered serious injury and 2100 endured minor injuries in accidents.

Wearing rear seat belts would immediately reduce the numbers by 50 per cent and will have a dramatic impact on the number of deaths of front passengers impacted by unsecured rear passengers.

In the event of a 60km/h collision an unsecured rear passenger will hurl towards the frotn passengers with a force that is equivalent to fourty times their body weight.

With the enforcement deadline looming, Proton owners are encouraged to quickly make an appointment with the nearest Proton Service Centre so that they can have the centre belt fitted.

Asked if the department has a roadmap for making other safety features such as Anti-lock Brakes and Airbags mandatory on all cars sold in Malaysia, Suret said that they have reached and agreement with Proton and Perodua that all their top of their model range toppers should have twin airbags and anti-lock brakes.

“We are basically in agreement that these features should trickle down to more basic models in the future until all cars are sold with these important safety features,” he said.