GOOD MOTORING
Safety first
Children should not sit in the front seat of a car. The car seat should always be strapped in the rear seat of a vehicle

Every animal in the wild has an innate natural ability for self preservation. At all times they depend on their sense of smell, sight and sound for taking care of their off springs and their own selves.

Man, who sits at the top of the evolution cycle, seems to have lost these finer common sense habits and self preservation has been thrown to the winds.

In most developed countries, children below eight years usually don’t sit in the front seat of a vehicle while travelling. As during an accident, a child will suffer more injuries than an adult because of his delicate structure. For younger children, a child seat is mandatory. The child is strapped into a special seat and the seat is then held back by the seat belts. For children below five years, the child seat should be rear facing. Reason: a child’s head is usually large and heavy and the spine is fragile. In case of a collision the head will be thrown back and forth, violently. Hence the special seat belt and seat. Also the rear seat is farthest from the dashboard and the danger and damage from a front-end collision.

Always put infants in the rear seat, as an inflated airbag can injure or kill a child in the front seat Thinkstock

There are special seats for infants below nine months of age. For children weighing less than nine kg, there is a child seat and for children over nine kg a booster seat is available. Children of twelve and under can be killed by an airbag. Never put a rear-facing child seat in the front seat of a car. Sit as far back as possible from the airbag. Always use seat-belts and child- restraints.

An inflating front airbag can injure or kill a child in the front seat. A child in the front seat is more likely to interfere with the driver’s ability to safely control the vehicle.

Statistics show that children of all sizes and ages are safer when they are properly restrained in the rear seat of a vehicle.

All these instructions are tested and tried procedures in the developed countries and you are required to obey them. Even where there may not be laws, common sense should prevail.

However, in India, an oft seen scenario is mom in front passenger seat, seat belt on and a child in lap. The child’s face is millimeters away from the dashboard and glass. A statistic from the west says that during a collision at 30 km/ph, a child’s head smashing into the dash board is the equivalent of being thrown from the third floor onto concrete! In severe braking conditions, the mother’s body can smother the child.

Even a pregnant woman should not sit on the front seat of car. Think about the consequences. Ignorance and lack of common sense is a deadly mix.

Happy Motoring!

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