Demand for child car seats rising

More Filipinos are now using special car seats to ensure the safety of their young children while traveling, a group said yesterday.

Einstein Rojas, New Vois Association of the Philippines (NVAP) volunteer, reported a rising trend of Filipinos wanting to have child car seats, a device attached to the passenger seat of a vehicle to accommodate a child occupant in a sitting position or for infants in lying down position for protection against injury or death from a road crash.

“When we go to malls around the country, we can already see that there are now more displays of child car seats being sold. This only proves that there is a market and the consequent demand for them,” Rojas noted.

Navotas City resident Valerie Peralta said she often used a child car seat for her son not for vanity, but to ensure his safety.

“We cannot predict accidents. Better be safe than sorry,” Peralta said as she urged other parents to try employing a child restraint system.

Having a child car seat may be expensive, but Peralta said ensuring the safety of your kid is worth the investment.

Rojas, a road crash survivor himself, urged the government to pass the proposed Child Safety in Motor Vehicles bills that remains pending before Congress.

“The government can ensure the protection of as many children as possible by making child car seats mandatory in private vehicles,” he stressed. Based on data gathered by NVAP, there were 24,656 road crashes in the Philippines in 2015 with 1,040 deaths reported.

Data from the Department of Health also showed that road crashes have been the second leading cause of death among minors.