Wheel Well makes call to take road safety for children to the next level

Wheel Well, a non-profit organisation dedicated to road safety for children in South Africa, is urging South Africans to take road safety for children more seriously.

Peggie Mars, Founder of Wheel Well, says that child deaths in road accidents declined again in 2021, which proves that activism really does work.

“According to figures from the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RMTC), 3 879 children were killed on our roads in 2019, dropping to 3 389 in 2020, and 2 257 in 2021. Even allowing for the impact of the lockdowns in 2020, a downward trend does seem to be emerging – but we cannot rest on our laurels,” she says. “Having shown we can make a difference, we owe it to our children to step up our efforts.”

Professionally reconditioned used car seats

Wheel Well is a non-governmental organisation that focuses on road safety for children, providing professionally reconditioned used car seats to families who can’t afford to buy new ones. Wheel Well has partnered with Supa Quick since 2020 whose network of 190 fitment centres are used as collection points for donated car seats.

Simple interventions such as ensuring that children are secured in the correct car seat for their age and size, and that child pedestrians are kitted out with visibility gear, can reduce child road deaths by as much as 85%, the organisation says.

Wheel Well believes that focusing on three initiatives will help accelerate the downward trend in child road death:

Double down on building awareness

A dismayingly small proportion of children travelling in cars are secured in car seats – studies show that only 24% of children in Gauteng are in car seats, with the proportion sinking to 8% in Cape Town. Parents simply do not understand the benefits of car seats, and often think holding a baby on their laps is safe. Another issue is the use of safety belts on children who are too small to benefit from them.

“Affordability is a barrier, but that’s where Wheel Well can help – first we need to educate parents about how to keep their children safe on the roads,” Mars says.

Increase the pool of car seats available for distribution to poorer families

The generally low usage of car seats means that the pool of donated car seats is too small to achieve the goal of getting every South African child into a car seat. Wheel Well is urging businesses of all sizes to consider purchasing new car seats to donate to Wheel Well for onwards distribution.

“This is a great corporate social investment project for teams to take on, and we can work with them to distribute the seats they purchase in specific communities if wished,” Mars says.

Donate used car seats

The donation of used car seats remains a key source for Wheel Well. These seats are professionally reconditioned (or recycled if not of suitable quality).

“Supa Quick is very proud of sterling work that Wheel Well is doing in this critical area, and we urge South Africans to help this great initiative build even more momentum. Our stores remain ready to accept any used car seats – and if any companies or individuals want to take on the challenge of buying new seats, we will also receive them on Wheel Well’s behalf,” says Yolandi Grundeling from Supa Quick.