Child seats avert ‘deadly mistake’

Cradling children in a parent’s arms while driving is an unacceptable risk to safety

Would car seats help lessen the death toll on our roads? Pawan Singh / The National

No parent would knowingly allow their very young child to be at risk of falling from a three-storey building. However that level of force is exactly what a child travelling in a car while cradled in their parent’s arms would face if there was a crash at just 50 kilometres per hour.

The apparent obliviousness to the real level of risk is why this kind of behaviour by parents is an unfortunately common sight on our roads – and why The National is unapologetic about running graphic front page illustrations yesterday of unrestrained children hurtling through windscreens or being crushed against the dashboard.

As road safety experts have long argued, cradling young children is a “deadly mistake” and it should be a requirement for children to be restrained in special car seats until they are big enough to use an adult seat belt.

The law already bans children under 10 sitting in the front seat but there is no law requiring car seats for children. Even the existing law, which carries a Dh400 fine and four black points, does not always result in prosecution. All this shows that car-seat legislation is just one part of the answer and will not be effective unless paired with education and enforcement.

This issue also touches on other aspects of road rules and road safety. The ability of police patrols to assess whether children are properly restrained inside the car is compromised if, for example, the car has windows tinted darker than the 30 per cent level allowed under the law. Darker tints are relatively common, in part from car owners’ concerned about privacy, but rarely result in prosecution.

There is, unfortunately, no silver bullet when it comes to road safety. Instead progress will be made through a series of steps to make the roads safer, such as requiring child seats and ensuring the law is enforced. The reward will be fewer families who learn about the real risks involved through experiencing a tragic death of a child they thought they were protecting.