I am not a parent, but I believe that infants and children need to be properly secured in a car. If you are a parent and you value your children’s safety and well-being above all else, then you should do your utmost to protect them when they’re in the car.
How many times have you seen unsecured kids in a vehicle? How many times have you witnessed a parent holding their toddler in their lap instead of securing them in the correct child seat? This recent article on AsiaOne shows that year-on-year, more parents are getting caught by the Traffic Police for failing to strap their children into the correct seats/restraints.
Children should be secured in baby seats because according to safety experts, seatbelts are only effective when they’re used to secure passengers who are at least 140cm tall.
Another reason for baby seats: Compared to adults, kids have thinner skulls and their heads constitute a greater percentage of their body weight. The head of a 25-year-old adult makes up about six percent of his or her body weight.
On the other hand, the head of a one-year-old infant makes up about 20 percent of his body weight. Plus, since children have weaker neck muscles and vertebrae, the risk of dying from whiplash injuries is significantly higher.
An even better way to enhance children’s safety would be to utilise a rearward-facing baby seat, as shown below. This way, in a frontal collision, the g-forces that impact the child will be more evenly distributed across their backs.
Having a baby seat in a compact saloon or hatchback can be inconvenient. It takes up space that could otherwise be used for ferrying passengers and stowing items. Parents who have given in to crying toddlers who refuse to be strapped in say that they do so because they can’t stand the wailing.
That wailing, however, is nothing compared to the screams of a child who has sustained serious injuries from an accident because they were not properly secured in a baby seat.
