unrestrained children in cars

[ozzmum]

I am not sure if anyone has previously raised this subject on the forum before but I feel it is important and I would love to hear some other opinions. Can anyone tell me why 99% of locals here feel it is uneccessary to fully restrain children in a vehicle using seatbelts and carseats?
I am always appauled when I see children standing between the two front seats or babies travelling on the knees of others and I always think if they were involved in an accident they wouldn't stand a chance.

[road.not.taken]

I think the hardest part of it for me, besides the fact that the child's welfare is so clearly at risk, is that it negates most or all of the positive steps toward a 'world class nation' Singapore strives for everyday. You can build all the Formula 1 tracks you want, but when the citizens of a country have such a unsophisticated? immature? callous? lazy? (I don't know the right word) attitude toward their children's safety it's hard to get jazzed up about a ferris wheel or a clean MRT. As a nation Singapore has so to be proud of, but every time I see a cop on a motorcycle at a red light next to a baby on a dashboard I wonder where their priorities are.

[sillingw]

have to agree with this one, it's the terrible combination of below average driving standards and lack of awareness of the danger to kids. It seems to me that if the police were a little more strict, a lot of this would be fairly easy to fix. I see so many multiple car accidents on the expressways, where something happens to the first car and the following vehicles just pile into the back of the one in front - If a kid is sat on the lap of the front seat passenger - they are going straight into the windshield, scares the heck out of me when I see unrestrained kids in cars.

[micknlea]

I cringe too, and there has just been a campaign about it, not big enough mind you, but you will see posters and a bus or two ads on it about doing just that.

It is not just locals, believe me, there are a lot of people, who do not look like locals, who I see with unrestrained children in their cars as well. It just seems to be a case of when in Rome (er, Singapore) etc etc.

[thesicks13]

you know this thread should be higlighted as a must read. I made a, probably too long, comment on another thread where a parent was asking whether they should get a car seat for taking their baby home in a taxi when he/she is born in March. Err hello, surely you would want to do everything to make sure you babe is safe?

Some Expats here seem to think, well the locals do so it is fine for us. I too am in the category of dissmay, unbelief, anger, upset, that so many kids lives are constantly at risk because their parents let them, well sit, stand, do what they want in a car. Whether sitting on the middle console of the front part of the car, sitting on relatives lap in the front, jumping around all over the back seat, or there being ten in a car; five adults sitting with a kid each on their laps and one on the gear stick!

For me it is all wrong. Adults have to wear seat belts kids not. I am old enough to remember how I scorned when us adults were made by law to wear seat belts. How on earth did no one think that perhaps the most fragile, kids, should also? The misplaced conception that you can not go fast enough In SG for anyone to get hurt could one day be a disaster!

[mrdodge]

I too am appalled when i see the smallest of children in the back of a cab unrestrained. When we had our first child here, we had endless arguments with cab drivers when we were trying to secure his capsule in the back seat (and sometimes, its not possible, the seat belts are not long enough). it was one of the reasons why we bought a car, so we could feel that he was being safely transported.

I don't see many accident statistics here, but I'd be absolutely sure that the the death & injury rate of small children due to car accident here must be higher than Australia or the US per capita.

[QRM]

I don't see many accident statistics here, but I'd be absolutely sure that the the death & injury rate of small children due to car accident here must be higher than Australia or the US per capita.

This note below confirms what we always suspected about the driving around here

"Singapore has one of the worst road-fatality records among developed countries. In 2007, 2.6 deaths were logged for every 10,000 vehicles in Singapore, compared to 0.8 in Japan, 1.2 in Australia and 1.8 in the United States"

[Matney]

And it won't change until the government requires safety seats for children. In Australia, we couldn't take home our baby until the nurse came down and actually checked to see we had a capsule installed in the car. That was 18 years ago, but I'm sure that has been going on longer than that. When that happens, then this problem is more likely to disappear. I think the government hides the statistics on car accidents involving children without proper seat belts. That should be public record. Its not just happening in Singapore, it seems to be all over Asia.

[QRM]

Well you can kinda understand it in the rest of Asia, in places where you see a whole family of 5 and a goat on a moped, asking them to fork out half a year salary on a child seat might be a bit much. (I know you can argue how much is your child worth).

To put it into an Asian context if the govt started making it compulsory for you to spend 30,000 pounds on a child seat there may be a bit of resistance to the idea.

It cost nothing to wear a seat belt, but you see the problems they are having trying to get seat belts on school buses here

[durain]

only way to do it in singapore is to make it a law and fine drivers for not putting passengers on seatbelt.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Or we could just leave it the way it is. This way, they become candidates for Darwin Awards. Oh! you say "They're only chldren!" Yeah, but they have inherited their parents genes so can grow up to just as bad or even worse.

[cws]

I'm with you guys - its appalling when parents are so irresponsible! I'm in the camp where parents who use baby bjorns/baby slings as a substitute for car seats should also be fined or arrested or something! In the US, social services will be knocking on your door if you had an unrestrainted child in the car. It is a pain but I cart my car seat around with me. There are so many things we cant control with our kids but using a car seat is something we can.

[sundaymorningstaple]

In the US, social services will be knocking on your door if you had an unrestrainted child in the car. It is a pain but I cart my car seat around with me. There are so many things we cant control with our kids but using a car seat is something we can.

That's for sure. They make sure no harm comes to the kid while an infant so that went they become teens they can do as they damn well please and sue the parents should the parents be stupid enough to try to reign them in and discipline them. Strange country that one.......

[aussiemeg]

I am sure there are a hundred million stories of what we have seen but yesterday whilst hunting for a spot at Tanglin mall I saw 6 adults and 4 kids heading out. Thinking argh there is two spaces available I watched as 4 locals placed themselves in the Merc then the two maids fed 2 of the kids into the nan and pop on the back seat (young and pretty mum in the front) then got a kid each and hopped in. Now a few thngs don't compute

1. Maids nursing children...maybe they would be more protective than some of these mums that are making these decisions
2. 2 Maids
3. A mercedes
4. Tanglin Mall

Hmmmm could they not afford a bigger car with seatbelts at least!!!!

M

[cavalier]

That's for sure. They make sure no harm comes to the kid while an infant so that went they become teens they can do as they damn well please and sue the parents should the parents be stupid enough to try to reign them in and discipline them. Strange country that one.......

Or if the kids become too much trouble you can bring them to Nebraska and leave them there.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/200 ... kids_N.htm