Consider pros and cons of mandatory seat belt law

The mandatory seat belt law is in force now as a measure to reduce the ever-rising road accidents in our country as part of the Clean Sri Lanka programme. All the activists in this campaign maintain that wearing seat belts can prevent road accidents.

- 

The causes for road accidents are numerous and this represents just a fraction of the problem. The justification for the implementation of this forced law is that lives of passengers can be saved when they are wearing belts. It is common knowledge that the driver and the passenger, or passengers, in the front, should wear the belt because they are vulnerable to be thrown towards the windscreen due to an unexpected slamming on the footbrakes to avoid a head-on collision. In such instances the air bags, too, are supposed to work automatically.