Expat’s safety letter leads to child-seat drive for parents - Singapore

Expat’s safety letter leads to child-seat drive for parents  - Singapore

She wrote to hospital, which approached police, who in turn roped in Volvo

By Carolyn Quek 
SAFETY FIRST: Mrs Susie Lawson, seen here with her son Harry, said it was second nature for parents in Australia to put children in car seats. — ST PHOTO: LAU FOOK KONG
 
AUSTRALIAN expatriate Susie Lawson was so troubled when she saw parents holding their newborns in their laps as they drove out of Thomson Medical Centre that she decided to write to the hospital.
The 36-year-old housewife’s letter last August has sparked off a five-month-long blitz, beginning today, to educate parents here on the importance of child seats.

Moved by her letter, Thomson Medical approached the Traffic Police for help to produce a brochure for the hospital. The police suggested turning it into a national campaign and roped in Swedish carmaker Volvo as well.

Banners will go up on some lamp posts, pamphlets will be distributed at several hospitals and bus advertisements will hit the road as part of the campaign.

Said Mrs Lawson: ‘It’s inspiring to see how a simple letter can make a difference.’

By law, children up to eight years old have to be strapped into a child seat while in a car. Failing to do so may lead to a $120 fine and three demerit points.

Taxis were exempted from this ruling, introduced in 1992, as it was thought to be impractical for them to carry harnesses of different sizes.

School buses and minivans were also excluded.

Last year, 30 motorists were caught flouting the child-seat rule, out of 4,000 summonses for seat-belt-related offences.

Traffic Police Commander Christopher Ng told reporters yesterday that there are still many children who are not strapped in when on the roads.

Mrs Lawson - who has three young children - was also surprised by what she saw here, because it was ’second nature’ in Australia for parents to place their children in car seats.

In May 2006, there was a fatality here involving a child who was not strapped in. The six-year-old boy, who was in the back seat, between an aunt and his grandmother, was killed in a car crash in Woodlands Road. His grandmother also died.

Another recent fatality - this time a seven-year-old boy in a school minibus - has also given momentum to a separate move to have school buses fitted with seat belts.

Road safety statistics from Volvo show that a child who is strapped in a rearward-facing child seat is 90 per cent less likely to suffer injury in an accident, compared to an unrestrained child.

‘It may take a while to change the (seat-belt-averse) mindset here of the road users,’ said Commander Ng.

‘Hopefully we can educate them from young and imbue in them the habit of wearing a seat belt when they grow up,’ he added.

Some parents do not strap their children in as they believe the kids are too big for the child seat.

When the rule was introduced in 1992, it was explained that, based on Health Ministry data, local children aged eight and below would not be tall enough to use an adult seat belt safely.

At Mothercare, which sells children’s products, sales of child seats start tapering off when children hit the age of four.

Its executive director, Ms Pang Shu Ming, said: ‘At this age, children generally hate to sit still, let alone be strapped into a child restraint.

‘Children at this age are also able to express verbally how they may find the seat belt uncomfortable.’

Parents, she added, may often be tempted to relent.

But this is precisely what they should not do.

Said Mrs Lawson: ‘Children don’t like to wear seat belts, but they don’t like brushing their teeth, too. So parents have a responsibility to teach their children good habits and why they have to belt up.’
Source : Straits Times  - 01 May 2008

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