Motorists will have to make small children safer in cars if new traffic regulations come into force.
New heavy vehicles and public transport must have built-in speed restrictors, and there will be time limits on driving spells for public transport drivers.
The Department of Transport issued draft regulations this week, one of which reads: “The driver of a motor vehicle operated on a public road shall ensure that an infant travelling in such a motor vehicle is seated on an appropriate child restraint: provided that this provision shall not apply in a case of a minibus, midibus or bus operating for reward.”
An infant is defined as a child below the age of three.
There is no indication of what is considered an appropriate child restraint.
The proposals also call for speed governors, which restrict the speed of vehicles, to be fitted on new public transport vehicles, buses and trucks.
This would apply to all minibuses, midibuses, buses and trucks. The speed limits would be set in another section of the regulations.
The Road Traffic Management Corporation lauded the proposals yesterday, with acting chief executive Gilberto Martins saying they supported any legislation that helped to reduce the carnage on the nation’s roads. “We will support anything that will give us safer roads, be it child restraints or new speed limits,” he said. -The Star