Srinagar: A young student from Kashmir's Ganderbal district has come up with an innovation that if it is used in cars then it can curb one of the major driving violations in the country and save people from dying in car accidents.

The 18-year-old, Class 12 student, Aqib Ahmad Shah of Safapora, Ganderbal, has come up with a small technical innovation- seat belt ignition.

The innovation means that the car's engine will not run until the driver has put on the seat belt. Not wearing a seat belt during driving is a common violation of car drivers and this negligence causes major injuries or even deaths in accidents.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) says that an estimated three million people each year are injured and up to 20,000 die due to negligence of not wearing a seat belt.

A report by the Ministry of Road and Transport-Road accidents in India-2020 says the number of persons killed and injured due to not wearing of seat belt during 2020 was,15, 146 and 39,102.

National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data of the year 2021 says that more than 1.55 lakh lives were lost in road crashes across India — an average of 426 daily or 18 every single hour.

Experts say that if this innovation is put into practice by car manufacturing companies, deaths or major injuries in car accidents will be minimized.

This innovative idea struck Shah in 2016 after he had a narrow escape from death when a passenger cab he was traveling in met with an accident in Jammu and Kashmir’s summer capital, Srinagar.

“The driver of the cab was not wearing seat belt due to which he had to bear maximum brunt of the shock. Other passengers were also without seat belt and they were injured. I too had my share of luck that I had a narrow escape but felt the shock,” Shah says.

He says as observed wearing sear belt will obviously reduce the impact of accidents or crashes and will reduce deaths or major injuries during accidents.

Shah says that it is a very common violation in Jammu and Kashmir or in the country that neither passenger cab drivers not private car owners wear seat belts during driving.

“Such negligence leads to terrible accidents where people loose precious lives and impaired for life. Wearing seat belts can also save drivers from fine,” he said.

Shah says that despite penalizing of drivers, this traffic violations has not come to an end or curbed to a major scale.

“With my innovation this violation will completely stop because when a vehicle won’t start ignition unless a seat belt is put on. A driver has a  necessary and helpful compulsion to wear a seat belt and drive his car. If otherwise, his car is as useless as a car without fuel,” Shah says with a smile.

This young student, who has many other awards to his credit, has got his name enlisted in India Book of Records for this innovation- a first student from Kashmir.

Shah had got many other awards at Jammu and Kashmir level for his other small innovations. But he says the biggest award for him will be when the car manufacturers buy his innovation of seat belt ignition.

A senior traffic police official in Kashmir said that this innovation is need of the hour to curb rising traffic violation vis a vis seat belt.

“Our work will get lessened if such idea is put to use in cars. The biggest take away will be this innovation will save lives of drivers and passengers during accidents,” he said.