Why Is child safety in cars given the blind eye.
When current Transport Minister, YB Anthony Loke was serving his previous position, between 2018 to 2020, he ‘pushed’ hard to make child seats mandatory in Malaysia.
However, the effects were short lived as many parents used financial excuses to avoid investing in a child seat and even worse they kept driving with the kids and even toddlers sitting on front passengers lap.
Sitting on a rear passengers lap is bad enough, but the front passenger is the most dangerous as even in a small fender bender, the child becomes a sandwich filling between the front passenger and the hard vehicle dashboard.
The end result can be devastating but these simple-minded parents do not seem to understand the dangers.
Meanwhile, we know that seat belts do a great job in keeping adults restrained in a crash. However they are not as good when it comes to protecting a child in an automobile seat. So, here are reasons why you child should not be sitting in an adult car seat.
Put a five-year-old in an adult seat belt and it’s easy to see that it doesn’t fit right. The shoulder belt is likely to pass over the child’s chin. When sitting upright in the seat, they are not able to bend their knees to reach the floor.
If they slouch enough to bend their knees, the lap belt is likely to cross their stomach. In a crash, a seat belt crossing a child’s abdomen or neck can do serious damage to a child’s vital organs.
The child could also slide underneath the belts. That’s why it’s so important that children ride in the correct child safety seat for their age and size.
Your child is your most precious cargo. Child car seats save lives, and it’s important to share this with drivers who do not bother to use a child seat.
- You see them on the road
- They might be a family member
- You live next door to them
- You see them when you pick up your kid at the same kindergarten
- They come to the same supermarket as you do and you should advice them
- They are a co-worker
So, when is a child ready to move to an adult seat. The answer is when you can answer ‘yes’ to all of the questions in the five-step safety test below:
- Can the child sit with their back against the vehicle seat?
- Do the child’s knees bend over the edge of the seat?
- Does the seat-belt sit across the middle of their shoulder (not on the neck or out near the arm)?
- Is the lap belt sitting low across the hips, touching the thighs?
- Can the child stay seated like this for the whole trip?
The more expensive seat might have a few more “bells and whistles” like convenience and comfort features (does your infant really need a slide-out cup holder?), but it’s not likely going to keep your child any safer on the road.
Purchase the seat your budget can handle and remember that the most important thing is to have a seat that’s the right size for your child and is installed properly in the vehicle.
