‘Compliance needed to ensure child safety in cars’
The association added that although CRS usage appears to be increasing, too many people are relying on seat belts to restrain children, which is neither legal or safety appropriate.
More driver compliance is needed to ensure proper child safety in cars, said the Automobile Association of South Africa (AA) in a statement on Tuesday.
In Uvongo last week, a 12-year-old girl was killed in a car crash. KwaZulu Private Ambulance Service responded to the collision on the R620 where they found that a vehicle had lost control, left the road, and collided into a tree.
Three patients had sustained critical injuries.
“Two patients were entrapped in the vehicle. Paramedics stabilised them and together with Ray Nkonyeni Fire and Rescue services, worked to free them using specialised vehicle rescue equipment,” said KwaZulu Private Ambulance Service spokesperson, Craig Botha.
Of the two patients, one of them a 12-year-old girl, deteriorated during the extrication, and despite advanced life support interventions, both were declared dead on the scene.
The third patient who was critically injured, a 10-year-old girl, was transported to a hospital for further treatment,” said Botha.
Meanwhile, the AA said too many children remain unrestrained in proper child restraint systems (CRS) in vehicles in South Africa. It added that the situation requires better traffic law enforcement and better education of drivers on the necessity of CR systems.
The association added that although CRS usage appears to be increasing, too many people are relying on seat belts to restrain children, which is neither legal or safety appropriate.
“Child restraint systems have been developed specifically to protect infants and children from getting injured in motor vehicles by restraining their movement in the vehicle. Along with better law enforcement and more punitive fines, we urge all drivers to protect their children and put them in proper CR systems wherever and whenever they are traveling,” said the AA.
