Sri Lanka Transport Minister clarifies new seat belt rules

Transport Minister Bimal Rathnayake has clarified in Parliament that under newly enforced seat belt regulations in Sri Lanka, families are permitted to install additional seat belts in their vehicles. This provision allows motorists to accommodate more passengers safely, such as a family of five, by installing a supplementary belt in the middle of a back seat.

The Minister emphasized that the law is intended to ensure passenger safety rather than restrict the number of people traveling in a vehicle. He stated, “All we are saying is fix a seat belt for every required seat. We have no power to say only three or four people can travel in a vehicle. What matters is that every passenger has a seat belt.”

The mandatory regulations became effective on September 19. Vehicles originally manufactured without seat belts were granted a one-year grace period to complete installations. Rathnayake noted that the safety benefits were recently demonstrated during an 11-vehicle expressway accident involving students, where all passengers were wearing seat belts, resulting in only minor injuries.