Many parents not using car restraints for kids
Whenever Ms Liu Wen Hsin heads out in a private-hire vehicle or a taxi with her two-year-old son Spencer, she takes a child car seat with her.
Despite the additional load she lugs during these trips, which happen about three times a week, the housewife said it is a worthy trade-off.
Ms Liu, 30, said: "Many parents do so much for their kids, and none of these things is convenient, so why do we shortchange our kids in the safety aspect?"
But not all parents do the same, despite the law stating that motor vehicle passengers under 1.35m must be secured with an appropriate restraint such as a booster seat or adjustable seat belt.
Survey results published last week by four final-year students from the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) found that almost half of the parents polled do not actively put their children in car restraints, even though most agreed it was an important safety measure.
Out of 513 parents with children younger than 10, about 78 per cent said they own car restraints, but only 55 per cent of parents use them all the time.
Almost half of the parents who have cars said their children felt uncomfortable in restraints, while non-car owners said it was inconvenient to carry the item around.
'APPALLING'
Undergraduate Gracia Ow, 23, a member of the NTU group, said: "We found the gap between ownership and usage of child restraints to be appalling and surprising because it shows that parents are compromising on their children's safety over perceived barriers."
The survey was conducted between October and December last year.
The issue previously came into the spotlight in 2017.
A study published then by the KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH) found that the majority of infants and toddlers injured in motor accidents were not secured in child seats.
Dr Chong Shu-Ling, the study's lead researcher and senior staff physician at KKH, told The Straits Times last Friday that parents are now more aware that the use of child restraints is mandatory by law.
"However, actual compliance can be improved," she said.
Meanwhile, students from NTU's Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information are promoting the use of appropriate child restraints for children aged up to 10 through a campaign called The Safe Seat.
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