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Transport MEC Robin Carlisle explains the plan to keep children safe on Cape roads. It includes much stricter penalties for people who do not buckle up their children properly. Photo: Candice Chaplin
Parents who do not strap in their children have been warned: the Western Cape government is planning tougher legal penalties and huge fines to make sure kids are properly buckled up.
Transport MEC Robin Carlisle told the Cape Argus on Tuesday: “It’s almost incomprehensible to me... that people take the most important people in their lives and expose them to the greatest risk they will ever face in their lives.
“More children are dying prematurely in car accidents than from any other cause.
“It also gives me my first indication about how absolutely clueless South African drivers are. If they had any idea of what happens in an accident – about the horror that goes on inside and eventually outside their cars – they would never do that,” Carlisle said.
He said the Red Cross Children’s Hospital had sought to verify reports that 85 percent of parents did not strap their children in.
In its own survey the hospital had found the percentage even higher, at 87.
“In Australia, for example, it’s around 2 percent,” Carlisle added.
He added that the problem stretched across the socio-economic spectrum, “from the very poorest, to the very richest”.
“It’s quite clearly not a racial or cultural thing – it’s a South African thing.”
Currently, SA law only made provision for fines of about R200 for failing to use seatbelts, Carlisle said – and children were not differentiated from adults.
He said the provincial government wanted this increased to between R4 000 and R6 000 per child, which was in line with countries such as Britain, the US and Australia.
The legal remedy Carlisle planned, in a new provincial road traffic bill set to become law next year, would also address the fact that the law was “silent” on whether children aged three and younger had to wear seatbelts.
He said he planned to introduce compulsory car seats for these children.
“The price of children’s car seats is reasonable. We hope to be able to ensure that they are available for as little as R275,” he reported.
His comments on Tuesday came after the launch of the province’s child safety festive season plan in the city on Monday.
During the briefing Professor Sebastian van As, the head of the trauma unit at the children’s hospital and the president of Childsafe SA, said road accidents remained the top non-natural killer of children in the country.
Many had died as a result of being run over or not wearing seatbelts.
Car accidents, drownings and burns remained the top three non-natural killers of children.
Van As said that out of between 200 and 300 children treated for trauma at the hospital every year, between 70 and 90 percent had been injured in car crashes.
There were no statistics available for child road deaths in the Western Cape, but Van As said that nationally, about 8 000 children died each year on the roads.
About 89 percent of those taken to the hospital for treatment had not been wearing seatbelts at the time of the crashes, Van As said.
Many were thrown into the road from the back of bakkies, while others had been standing or sitting unrestrained inside cars.
Most of these children sustained upper-body injuries, with more than half of them sustaining head injuries including concussion, fractures and abrasions to the head and face.
A large number of children who were killed on the roads were pedestrians, with a survey by Childsafe in Khayelitsha finding that 83 percent had been run over.
Carlisle said during the briefing that he would use the Western Cape Road Traffic Bill – which was set to go before the provincial cabinet tomorrow – to address discrepancies in the National Road Traffic Regulations Act.
sipokazi.fokazi@inl.co.za - Cape Argus
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GREAT STUFF, BUT , wrote
Well done to the Western Cape, as usual, for being so proactive. But any law is only as effective as the policing mechanism in place to patrol it. Does this mean that Durban Metro Police will actually have to venture out into public places - I mean, come out from wherever it is they hide away, because they are NOWHERE to be seen on the roads in the mornings - total chaos on the roads and these people are invisible.
The Gecko, wrote
@Anonymous 01:04 - yes, it is true that people have died due to seat-belts. However, take some time to research the stats - the lives that have been SAVED by seat-belts outnumber those that died due to seat-belts by order of magnitude! Me, I'd rather err on the safe side...
The Gecko, wrote
@Deena Naidoo - You're the parent, are you not? So grow a pair and MAKE him use it. "He doesn't want to" is the most pathetic excuse ever. He shouldn't have a choice.
sintpeter, wrote
Keep it up Carlisle! "Parents" who do not safeguard their children are not selfish - just slap gat lazy - "won't heppen to us"- ignorant. Even though the kids are dead or maimed, most judges will just administer a slap on their wrists "because of the pain they have." And God decided "There Shalt be the Dumb 'n drunk drivers, the Young 'n Dumb drivers, the Impatient Inconsiderate drivers and the Non-Roadworthy Vehicle drivers - and they shalt be called ROAD FODDER". Unfortunately He did not include the innocent victims. When I worked with Volvo SA in 1976, we were shown filmed 'interviews' of Swedes who did not wear seat belts in crashes- vegetables most of them. Convinced me! Looking forward to visiting RSA in Feb. in a rented Hummer with an armed bodyguarddriver. Aaah, the Third World awaits.
Mike, wrote
I am all for it but it burns my butt when the CT Traffic services staff are the biggest culprits when it comes to speed!! Every morning I see the same three cars breaking the speed limit from Table View to cape Town. One even has a tow hitch that blocks out the license plate! Isn't that illegal Robin?? How can I respect the law if the people tasked to governing the law, dont live by the laws. GEt your own house in order first!
Anonymous, wrote
Well done Mr Carlisle, it's about time! Shocking comments from people who are clearly uneducated about the importance of using a child car seat. Do yourself a favour and look at the statistics of child MVA deaths in countries where car seats are compulsory. It is nowhere CLOSE to 8000 a year! How can you be so selfish as to allow your child to travel in a car without being restrained properly, just because it is conveniet for you?? Don't expect any sympathy if your child dies in a car crash because YOU were an ignorant fool.
Anonymous, wrote
High time something is done - I see toddlers and young children daily who are standing on the front passenger seat. Seriously?! I say fines should be a minimum of R 2000 per child not strapped in, however I am concerned that the compulsory car seat may not be affordable for families already struggling to make ends meet. Well done to the MEC for taking action to adress this.
Dudu, wrote
what will happen in public transport, none of them have seat belts, shouldnt this law be for all cars vehicles.
Jakkie, wrote
At long last, hopefully this will spread to the rest of the country. I often see these parents with their children NOT strapped in and feel like I want to pull them over and do a citizen arrest. It is a mindset. Having an unsecured child in a seat is incomprehensible and yes, if you cannot afford a car seat, your child should not be in a car. Seems heartless but it is a lot better than losing your child. Taking into account that their heads are still very disproportionate to their bodies, a minor accident will have a much worse effect on them than their parents, if they are not in baby seat.
Anonymous, wrote
I am horrified at some of the comments made in this forum criticising Mr Carlisle's efforts to save children's lives. If you dont want to wear seatbelts that is your choice. But dont make that choice for your children. Your children have every right to grow up. Dont make choices for them that might snuff out their lives prematurely simply because you dont want to be strapped up. As far as the principle of strapping up children in cars go, I totally support that. The cost of children's car seats is another matter. Quite frankly car seats are not cheap and not everyone can afford them. However there are any number of car seats that one can afford second hand. If my maid can do it for her child, so can everyone else with a car. If you own a car you shyould be able to own a car seat albeit second hand. As far as public transport is concerned, especially the taxis which most of our people use every day, I think this is something that must equally be addressed. I see lots of moms who ride in taxis with their little ones on their laps. This is equally a big risk. But what shocks me the most is the criticism that is being leveled at this noble effort. I simply cannot believe that people with children will not be interested in doing everything they can to make sure their children are not hurt.
Anonymous, wrote
Long overdue. I see so many people driving with their toddlers on the front seat or even worse on their lap. Total ignornace in this country regarding kids wearing seatbelts. My son is 2 years old and he is not allowed to go in a car unless in his car seat which for me is no problem to take out and put in his grandparents car if we wants to go with them. Some parents give into their children - one even saying to me that her 2 year old is 'so over sitting in a car seat'. How irresponsible that you let a 2 year old dictate to you. My son knows he can't drive in a car without sitting in his seat. Very seldom he resists and wants to sit on the back seat but I believe if you are firm enough they will listen as he always does. I always tell him either he sits in his car seat or stays at home - as simple as that. South Africans are very ignorant about the need to wear a seatbelt whether be it adults or children.
Anonymous, wrote
a load of bull, just another way to get money . milk milk milk. I knew people who died because they were straped in. I am no cage animal and refuse to drive around with a lease around me. it is 5050 change of getting hurt or not and should be every persons own choice. But yes proudly sa, never aloud to make choices for one self adn never allowed to think. viva freedom. why not worry about the idiot that cannot drive, while pulling me over there will be 10 cars sppeding passed with no licences no drivers licenses driving recklessly or drunk.
Sindisa dunga , wrote
Read this and see the importance of putting a small child in a car seat, you will replace whatever money you may use to buy, you still have more years to work and recover from debt, but you will never replace your precious child, you will never ever have another Khazimla and Kwakho. Please take it safeness of your child seriously, you dont want to regret because of R800
andrew, wrote
Gerrit, wrote
@ Deena Naidoo. A good hiding never hurt anyone. It shows a lack of respect by your children for you.
Anonymous, wrote
This is all well and good, but once again the laws are being made without consideration. If you can afford R275 for a car seat, well and good, but I havent seen one for that price anywhere when my daughter was small enough for one. I had to borrow one. The prices for child safety is ridiculous in this country as with everything else. Start by making cars with seatbelts that can adjust for anyone..about public transport, my husband was a taxi driver and the passengers refused to use the seatbelts available so then I feel the passengers should be held resposible as well! Children should be strapped in but they will only follow by example and most adults arent very good examples in this country!
michelle, wrote
Not everybody has the luxury of having their own motor vehicle, my primary mode of transportation is taxi and bus. If a friend offers me a lift home, am I expected not to take it because I neglected to carry around my 2 year-old's car seat in preparation for just such an offer? If 13% (87% don't) buckle their kids in, that corresponds quite nicely to the proportion of south african society fortunate enough to be in ownership of a private vehicle... this article clearly takes statistics out of their very relevant 'real world' context.
kurt, wrote
Long overdue. My daughter is 16 and at four she lost her best friend because of this. If she had been strapped in they would still be friends, now she is just a memory
natheem, wrote
Since everyone is so concerned, why are public busses not required to have safetybelts... so many kids use them, especially since the new BRT busses just arrived, they could have been ordered with belts... to those stupid parents who buckle themselves and not their kids... did you ensure ththem or something?
Anonymous, wrote
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