Belt your child — it’s the law and it’s kinder

Press, 1 December 1978, Page 13

Belt your child — it’s the law and it’s kinder

By

BRIAR CAMBOURN

John tossed the baseball bat and beach ball into the car boot, made a mental inventory of the picnic gear, and bellowed to the kids to get in. The kids, aged four and eight, threw themselves in

the car: one in the front, one in the back. Margaret put the youngest on her knee and promised to play games of "I spy” with the eldest once they were on the open road.

Twenty minutes out of the city, and the open road beckoned the eldest' to the window for the promised game. He bobed up and down, clambering from door to door. The youngest, restless on Mum’s knee, wanted to join in, and determinedly stood up between Dad and Mum, hanging on to both shoulders for support. Now and then adding the odd clue to the game, Dad did not anticipate the sudden twist in the road ahead; he thought it was further on. By the time he slewed into the gravel, pedalling the brakes and twisting the wheel desperately to negotiate the • bend, it was too late.

The car catapaulted into the bank. The four-year-old crashed into the dashboard. The eldest was flung at 80km/h against the seat in front.

Margaret and John were thrown viciously forward in their seats, then whiplashed back by the safety belts. They were stunned for a moment; then Margaret screamed: “My baby.”

The youngest died of a broken neck. The eldest broke his arm. To almost everyone else they became another road statistic.

From today it will be illegal for children of eight years and over to travel unbelted in cars fitted with seat belts. Parents will also be urged to get harnesses, child seats, and other restraints for children under the age of eight.

“It’s not because we are trying to make life difficult, but simply because we have to bring down the rate of child accidents somehow,” says the Christchurch chief traffic instrutor, Mr A. E. Collie. At the best of times 90 per cent of children travelling in cars are not restrained in any way, or belted in. About half the children who die in road

accidents are passengers in cars. Under the old regulations children did not have to belted into cars until they were 15 years old. The change applies only to vehicles already fitted with belts. It does not mean drivers will have to fit extra belts. In other words, given that seat belts are already compulsory in front seats of all cars, a child aged eight or over who is the only front seat passenger must wear a seat belt. If the child is the third person on a front bench seat, and the car is fitted with only two belts, the child should ride in the back. The new law might stipulate that children eight and over should be

belted in, but Ministry of Transport officials strongly advise that children under eight years should also be fastened in various ways (see inset). Belts must be fastened correctly, however. A child of about eight years will risk a broken neck if the upper belt drapes around his neck (see picture.) To prevent this the child should sit closer to the centre of the seat — if it is a bench seat, or on a booster cushion in a bucket or bench seat.

Booster cushions' have high foam backs and thick foam seats. They raise the child about nine inches and bring the upper belt round his chest. The booster seat also eliminates what most parents will find the most frustrating part of the new regulation: children cantankerous because they cannot see anything. Ordinary cushions are a dangerous substitute. A sudden stop will jerk the

cushion off the seat and slide the child into a position in the belt that may produce injury. An ordinary cushion may also slide in normal travel. One lethal misconception parents have is that belted in themselves and clasping the child, they can thus prevent the child any injury. Instead, the child acts as an air bag against the mother in a forward fall. If the child is belted in with the mother, the same thing will happen. In a collision mothers will also involuntarily let gj of the children, and they will hit the dashboard or be thrown into the windscreen. The belt should be fastened so that the buckle sits on the hip, not on the rib cage or the soft part of the stomach. This can cause injury. A flat hand should be able to fit between the child’s chest and the fastened belt. Parents using booster cushions are pleased with

them. They say that children can be kept occupied with ■ some plaything, or that they fall asleep. A Dunedin couple who drove a four-year-old to Christchurch on a booster seat in a five hours and a half trip said they had “no trouble, never do.” A much younger child rode in a child seat. If children are fastened in from the beginning, they accept immobility quite happily, parents say. They suggest the child should never travel in the car without being in the seat, that parents should break long journeys so that the child does not associate the seat with discomfort; that parents should occasionally get in the back seats with irritable children, and amuse them. The. travelling public will be, faced with another change on November 1 next year. It will then become compulsory for all cars registered after that date to be fitted with seat belts — front and back. This will mean three belts in the back, and two in the

front (in case of bucket) or three in the front (in the cases of bench seats). At that stage, no child of eight years dr over will be allowed to travel unbelted, if a seat belt is not in use.

Until then, however, and from today, any driver will be held responsible if a child aged eight years or over is found breaching the law. Normal enforcement procedures will apply.