Come January 1st 2009, the rear seatbelt rule will come into effect. Based on the recent poll and the observation on the comments streaming in through the website (here and here), it is amazing to see how some of us can come out with the excuses that totally miss the point. 

Where do they get the idea that the government is trying to make money by making the rear seatbelt compulsory? 

Even before the ruling was made, careful considerations were given to the feasibility and economic impact. Hence the exemptions for vehicles registered before 1st January 1995. Vehicles belonging to this category are about 14 years of age. Even that, some leeway is given to vehicles registered after 1st Januay 1995. 

The point of this whole exercise is to save lives. It is easy for armchair critiques to easily get carried away without reading through the fine print of the ruling. There is no hidden agenda but to save lives.

When the rear seatbelt ruling was announced, it was a mixed bag of reaction from the public. It is surprising (and alarming!) that some feels this is a hassle. Since now is still the ‘introductory’ period (no enforcement yet), I conduct a quick survey by observing cars around me at USJ Summit-KESAS interchange traffic light. Almost all cars with rear passengers does not use seatbelt and of course there are “heroes” at the front not wearing seatbelts at all.

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The following article is in Bahasa Malaysia detailing some of the frequently asked question about the rear seatbelt ruling.

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Come June 2008, the rear seatbelt ruling will come into effect (but this shouldn’t stop you from starting now). Starting from June 2008, there will be an advocacy period of 3 months after which strict law enforcement will be in place.

From the survey done by MIROS, most vehicles registered after 1 Jan 1995 comes with rear seatbelts. However, for private vehicles manufactured before 1 Jan 1995, this ruling is exempted. Private vehicles without rear seatbelt manufactured after 1 January 1995, they will have 3 years  to comply.

There are concerns about for inadequate seat belts in a 5 seater cars for large families. From a survey done by MIROS, 91% of the time there are less than 3 passengers at the back. For the 9% group, they should consider about safety for the rest of their passengers. Nevertheless, for large families, in cases where rear seatbelts are inadequate, they will be exempted from the ruling.

We should consider the fact that accidents do happen and it can happen to anyone. It is easy to take for granted the safety of those at the back and we’re so used to not buckling up when sitting at the back.

Don’t wait for June to come, buckle up now for those at the back!

Update: This blog entry is edited to clarify and correct some factual errors. The webmaster wish to apologise for the confusion caused by this blog entry.