Hey Mabs!
I am so frustrated with parents driving around with kids peeking their heads in the middle of the two front seats of the car. Can you please make them aware of the proper safety measures for children (especially toddlers) in the car? Not to sound holier than thou, but I am concerned these kids will come flying out of the windscreen should anything happen unexpectedly.
Mabs answers:
You have just raised a vital subject and one that I’m really passionate about. As a parent, I get so frustrated when I see children standing on seats in moving vehicles while parents are totally oblivious. I cannot stress how dangerous this conduct is. For the past seven years there has been an annual campaign, Child Passenger Safety Week, aimed at drawing parents’ attention to the dangers of driving around with their children unrestrained.
According to Maxi-Cosi, the organisation that runs the annual campaign, road traffic accidents are the number one cause of fatalities among children under the age of 10 in South Africa. Due to their size, unrestrained children are thrown out like missiles during accidents. The onus lies on parents to protect their little ones. They can do this by ensuring that the child is safely secured in an age-appropriate seat or booster up to the age of 12. It is an act of love, a very important one at that.
