No focus on kids’ safety in cars
LAST week, The Independent on Saturday carried the accounts of paramedics of dealing with road deaths. All said their most traumatic cases involved children not strapped in with car seats or seat belts. On Wednesday, as schools opened, we spent some time observing how many children were not restrained in cars. Here is what we found.
Sithembile Mkhwanazi: Outside Greyville Primary School, there was a red car parked in front of a truck near the premises; a woman on the driver’s seat was taking a call on her cellphone while she waited for her child to get inside the car.
When the girl got in the car, she was not helped into the car, and there was no proper booster seat for her to sit in. She was allowed to move about with no consideration of her safety.
After playing around in the back seat for about two minutes, while the adult remained on the phone, she leaned towards the front seat, and the woman did not respond.
When the woman was done with her phone call, the child moved back to her seat and the woman drove away without taking into account that the child did not have a seat belt on.
There was also a cab car parked near the school which had a child inside and no seat belt on, even though it was stationary. The driver showed no intention of making the child fasten their seat belt.
Lloyd Govindsamy: In the middle of the back-to-school morning rush, I took a drive to a local primary school. There I found myself a shady spot and observed just how safe or vulnerable our little ones are.
At 7am, equipped with a notepad and smartphone, I took note of the dismal precautions taken by (so-called) adults on the safety of the children in their care. Be it buses, taxis or sports cars, one could not overlook the perils facing children on the motorways that could all be minimised or avoided completely. To my horror, it was not just the fact that children were not buckled up or were allowed to stand up and jump on the seats, but how they were allowed to stick their heads out of the windows. There is probably nothing more alarming than seeing a full bus and tiny limbs protruding from the windows.
I guess kids will be kids, and I remember myself doing the same, until one unforgettable day when my dad pulled over in the middle of the freeway to teach me a lesson I’d never forget.
However, there were many parents who walked their children to school. They ensured the children walked on the pavement, a safe distance from the road, crossing at the scholar patrol with their hands clutched tight to those in their care. It seems that those travelling in motor vehicles assure themselves these vehicles provide all the safety they need, a notion that must be eliminated.
Sacha van Niekerk: A rush of excitement was the scene at Virginia Prepartory School’s first day back for the start to the 2017 school year.
Kids sat on the very edges of their car seats, school backpacks over the shoulders, minus their seat belts. This was the case for more than one instance while observing the early morning drop-off. In two cases, smaller children (possibly younger siblings) sat on the laps of adults sitting in the front seat with no seatbelt available for the safety of the children.
The afternoon school run at Greyville Primary School was a busy mix of eager children filing out of the school gate, and parents hurriedly collecting them.
At about 1pm, three children piled on to the back seat of a car driven by a man, who had briefly left the vehicle to collect two more children from inside the school. While he was gone, the children clambered around the back seat of the car (one child hung out the car window) making it evident that they were unbuckled.
When the driver returned, the fourth child entered the back seat and the fifth climbed into the front seat of the car. The vehicle then pulled away from the pavement with none of the five children strapped in.