Buckle your child up or face consequences
“Our job is traumatic enough and critically injured or dead children make it almost unbearable.”
Children not strapped in had a 90 percent chance of sustaining critical injury or being killed in a car crash, Emer-G-med has warned.
Spokesperson Max Cohen said it was unacceptable that parents still let kids free in the car during a trip.
“There is absolutely no excuse for not buckling children up, and it is now against the law so [offending] motorists will face legal action.”
ALSO READ: Children should buckle up until the age of 10
He said it was every medic’s nightmare to find children severely injured or killed in an accident.
“Our job is traumatic enough and critically injured or dead children make it almost unbearable.”
Cohen said buckling children up didn’t even take a minute.
“Take the few seconds to help save your child’s life in case of an accident.”
According to Arrive Alive, national statistics showed that 84 percent of children did not wear a seatbelt.
Arrive Alive said death in a vehicle was the fourth leading cause of unnatural death among children in South Africa.
“Approximately 20 children a month are treated for injuries sustained in motor vehicle collisions – 80 percent were children not wearing a seatbelt or unrestrained.
ALSO READ: Keep your young ones safe
Most of these injuries could have been prevented through appropriate restraining.
Car safety seats reduce the risk of death in passenger cars by 71 percent for infants, and 54 percent for toddlers.”
Arrive Alive also dismissed the belief by some parents that holding the baby in the event of an accident could prevent injury or death.
“Research has shown that passengers have less than half a second to react in a collision or sudden stop.”
On impact or abrupt stop from 50 to 60 kilometres an hour, the weight of an occupants of a vehicle multiplies 30 to 60 fold depending of weight.
If a baby weighs 10 kilograms, the force at the moment of impact is equivalent to a weight of 300 kilograms.
Nobody can hold onto that baby – the impact would thrown the baby about the vehicle, causing serious injury or death or be ejected through the windows out of the car.”
In 2015, the transport department promulgated a law allowing for the motorist to be held accountable for unstrapped children.
The law allows for the imposition of a fine, confirmed Tshwane metro police spokesperson Senior Superintendent Isaac Mahamba.
“It is the responsibility of the driver to make sure that all passengers fasten their safety belts.”
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