The importance of child safety
During one such morning I was waiting at a stop sign when I was stunned to see a woman driving past me with no less than four pre-school children jumping around in her car and a toddler on her lap also holding on to the steering wheel.
National Child Protection Week (CPW) was commemorated nationally from 27 May to 2 June to raise awareness of the rights of children as articulated in the Children’s Act of 2005.
Section 28(1)(d) of the Bill of Rights stipulates that children should “be protected from maltreatment, neglect, abuse or degradation”.
Childsafe South Africa is a campaign of the Child Accident Prevention Foundation of Southern Africa and a member of Safe Kids Worldwide.
Since 1991, Childsafe systematically has kept a computerised database of all injured children treated at the Red Cross Children’s Hospital Trauma Unit in Cape Town.
According to Childsafe the three main leading causes of child and adolescent deaths are motor vehicle accidents, burns and drowning.
The campaign further found that annually 8 000 children between the ages of one and 14 years die as a result of unintentional injuries, which could have been prevented.
It also is estimated that a child in South Africa is about 25 times more likely to be admitted to hospital than in the United Kingdom.
However, despite statistics like these and campaigns promoting child safety we are still challenged owing to some parents not taking sufficient precaution to prevent their children from being injured.
We all know how busy the roads are early in the mornings when parents are rushing to get their children to school.
During one such morning I was waiting at a stop sign when I was stunned to see a woman driving past me with no less than four pre-school children jumping around in her car and a toddler on her lap also holding on to the steering wheel.
Please forgive me if I sound unreasonable but such behaviour is the very example of being negligent.
How would she be able to ensure any of those children’s safety if she was to be in an accident?
Not only was she endangering the lives of all her little passengers, but also the lives of other road users as well as the pedestrians who happened to be in the same area.
In the United Kingdom children must travel in appropriate car seats until they are 135 centimeters tall or until the age of
12, whichever comes fi rst.
It has been estimated that with these new rules on the use of child restraints, over 2 000 child injuries or deaths will be prevented in the United Kingdom every year.
Statistics tell us that each day more than 10 children under the age of 15 die due to road traffic accidents, drowning, burns, poisoning, violence and other physical hazards present in an environment created by adults.
In view of such statistics and in respect of initiatives like National Child Protection Week and Childsafe South Africa I would like to urge parents in our local community to take some time to evaluate the environment they are creating for their children.
There are many ways that we can ensure our children’s safety and prevent accidents and injuries.
Let’s all make an effort to be more aware of dangers in and around our homes and on the road that could harm our children.
