it has been reported with the enforcement for rear seatbelts, locally made cars that do not come with the equipment will be installed for free. This is reported by Transport Minister Datuk Ong Tee Keat, who said that they have reached an agreement with the related parties like manufacturers, insurance and banks to sign a memorandum of understanding in the near future.
He said that “We have deliberated on this systematically as it involves money and engineering. We hope this initiative can help lessen the people’s burden with the new ruling to wear rear seat belts. I wanted original manufacturers involved because fitting anchorage points for seat belts must be done properly. It is part of their corporate social responsibility programme.”
It was reported that a local car manufacturer will sign the documents tomorrow with an announcement of the procedures to be announced some time after that. Ong added that “I would like to advise passengers in cars already fitted with seat belts to buckle up when travelling and for car owners without rear seat belts to install them promptly and not wait until the last minute,”
For those who are not aware, the ruling came into force on 1 June 2008 which means those who do not buckle up at the back seat are already violating the traffic rules. However, for cars that has no rear seat belts, they will not be issued summons yet until August. They have 3 years to install the seat belts.
abrams @ MalaysiaToday.com