Springs residents planning on going away for the Easter weekend should make wearing seat belts their first priority.
“The use of safety belts in motor vehicles is without doubt responsible for saving the lives of countless motorists every year,” says Shalen Ramduth, Netcare 911 general manager of national operations.
He claims a number of studies have shown that injuries during a vehicle accident are prevented and lives saved when adults and children are properly restrained.
“Many motorists continue to drive without wearing seat belts, and, perhaps of still greater concern, many fail to ensure that their children are safely buckled up.
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“Fitted safety belts and child restraints absorb the energy caused by a rapid deceleration, which usually occurs during a motor vehicle accident, and also considerably reduces the risk of occupants being ejected from the vehicle,” he says.
René Grobler, from the Netcare Milpark Hospital’s Netcare Trauma Injury Prevention (TIP) programme, agrees that seat belts can afford a significant measure of protection to the occupants of a vehicle during an accident.
Protecting children
Many parents don’t properly restrain their children, and allow them to sit in the front seat or to play in the back of the car.
“Children and babies are much more vulnerable to injury than adults; therefore, they need to be strapped in using properly designed child safety seats that are secured in the rear of the car,” says Grobler.
These seats are highly effective in preventing injury and should be used every time someone travels with a child in a vehicle.
“Rear-facing child seats reduce injury by as much as 76% and severe injury by 92%. Forward-facing restraints are less effective but still reduce injury by 34% and severe injury by 60%,” says Grobler.
A child standing between the two front seats at the time of an accident has the greatest chance of being injured or of not surviving an accident.
“Not only is it in the best interests of vehicle occupants to wear a seat belt, it is also the law,” says Grobler.
Child safety tips
Vehicle safety tips to parents and childminders:
- Use the car safety seat from the very first day you travel with your newborn baby.
- The safest place for a child in a vehicle is on the back seat in a correctly fitted safety seat.
- A rear-facing child restraint system provides the best protection for infants of 12 months old.
- Follow installation instructions for the motor vehicle safety seat.
- Ensure the car seat is well secured and the child is properly strapped in.
- Once the child has completely outgrown the larger car seat (eight to 10 years), it needs to be replaced with a booster seat which helps prop a child to a better height so that a standard seat belt rests in the correct place across their body.
- Never allow anyone to share seat belts.
