“By the year 2020, if current trends continue, the annual number of deaths and disabilities from road traffic injuries will have risen by more than 60% to number three (from number 9 in 1990) on WHO’s list of leading contributors to the global burden of disease and injury.” – World Health Organization
One of the things I noticed when I was in the United States for the first time was the two child safety seats (or child restraint system) at the back of my sister’s car.
“They are for my two kids, who are left behind at the house with my husband, Dan,” says my sister Elena, who picked me up at the airport in St. Paul, Minnesota. “I was in a hurry so I wasn’t able to unload them before coming to the airport.”
I didn’t see those kind of car seats in the Philippines so I wondered. “We have a law here in the United States, Manoy,” she explained.
The Philippines is following suit, literally and figuratively. This kind of seat may soon be adorning privately-owned vehicles. That is, if the Child Car Seat Law will be passed!
“When correctly installed and used, (child restraints) are proven to reduce fatal injuries among infants by approximately 70% and among children aged 1 to 4 years by 54%,” said the explanatory note of Senate Bill No. 1447 authored by Senator Joseph Victor G. Ejercito.
Before probing deeper, let’s take a closer look at the statistics. Three years ago, in 2015, the Geneva-based World Health Organization (WHO) reported that about 1.25 million road traffics deaths occur annually all over the globe.
Road crashes are considered a leading cause of death among young people aged 15 to 29 years old. Among children aged 5 to 9 years old, it is the sixth leading cause of death.
About 90% of all these road deaths happened in low- and middle-income countries although they only 50% of the world’s vehicles.
In the Philippines, for every 100,000 Filipinos, about 10,379 of them die as a result of road crashes. This loss of lives can be translated to some 2.6% of the country’s gross domestic product.
According to the Health Policy Notes of the Department of Health, road crashes claim the lives of children aged 0 to 17 years old. Road crashes is now the second leading of death (with mortality rate of 5.85 per 100,000 population) among children, after drowning.
Three years ago, in 2015, the Geneva-based World Health Organization (WHO) reported that about 1.25 million road traffics deaths occur annually all over the globe. Road traffic is considered a leading cause of death among young people aged 15 to 29 years old. Among children aged 5 to 9 years old, it is the sixth leading cause of death.
About 90% of all these road deaths happened in low- and middle-income countries although they only 50% of the world’s vehicles.
In the Philippines, for every 100,000 Filipinos, about 10,379 of them die as a result of road crashes. This loss of lives can be translated to some 2.6% of the country’s gross domestic product.
According to the Health Policy Notes of the Department of Health, road crashes claim the lives of children aged 0 to 17 years old. Road crashes is now the second leading of death (with mortality rate of 5.85 per 100,000 population) among children, after drowning.
Road crashes need not happen. “They’re not random acts of God,” points out Dr. Jeffrey Runge, head of the US National High Traffic Safety Administration. “They’re predictable, and therefore, they’re preventable.”
In fact, road crashes should not be considered an accident. “An accident refers to an unfortunate incident that happens by chance, or one that is unexpected and unintentional. In short, no one is at fault,” explains Atty. Melisa Jane B. Comafay, who is affiliated with the Initiatives for Dialogue and Empowerment through Alternative Legal Services, Inc. (IDEALS).
In comparison, “a road crash is when vehicles collide with another or with an object, and the fault cannot be disregarded,” Atty. Comafay says. “Thus, to call it as merely an accident suggests that the event was something beyond control and it implies a description with an excuse embedded within it.
“Though a road crash is not premeditated,” she further says, “there is negligence on the part of the driver due to various reasons or other contributory factors.”
Globally, road crashes are caused by behavioral risk factors that include speeding, distracted driving, drunk and drugged driving, and non-use of motorcycle helmets, seatbelts and child restraints.
According to Atty. Comafay, until traffic authorities and government officials will not start calling a road crash a “road crash” and still maintain it as an accident, the Philippines won’t be on the right track to road safety.
Of the five risk factors on road safety, the only one without a law is the mandatory use of child restraints. “There remains a huge gap in the law that would protect our very own children, including infants, from the injuries or death caused by a road crash,” deplores Atty. Comafay.
Prevailing road safety laws in the Philippines, including the Seat Belts Use Act, does not make a distinction and afford the necessary protection to children passengers. “Existing seat belts on all motor vehicles are meant to harness and protect only adults while there isn’t anything to address the safety of infants and children.”
But two new bills are trying to address this. Last February, the House of Representatives has approved on third reading House Bill No. 6938 or the Child Safety in Motor Vehicles Act of 2017 with 255-0 representatives voting affirmative for the bill.
Its counterpart at the Senate, Senate Bill No. 1447 or An Act Providing for the Special Protection of Child Passengers in Motor Vehicles, authored by Senator Joseph Victor G. Ejercito, is still under deliberations.
Both bills have one thing in common: all drivers of privately-owned motor vehicles are mandated to use child car seats in transporting children 12 years old and below.
“Children are at a higher risk in road crashes compared to adults; given their frail bodies, normal injuries for adults could be fatal to them,” said the Ateneo School of Government (ASoG) in a statement. “They require special care and treatment to avoid threat to life.”
This is the reason why ASoG, in tandem with the Global Road Safety Partnership, is batting for the immediate passage Child Car Seat law.
“The more we are without a law protecting our children on the road, the more they are vulnerable to road crashes,” said Jason Salvador, the manager of ASoG’s Road Safety Project. “Deaths and injuries among infants and children caused by road crashes and preventable and the use of child car seats is one of the most effective ways of doing it.”
In 2015, the United Nations health agency issued the Global Status Report on Road Safety. One significant finding said that children in appropriate restraint for their size and weight are significantly less likely to be killed or injured than unrestrained children. Also, they are less likely to be killed or injured than children using adult seatbelts.
Rear-facing restraint for babies and infants (under one year) has also been shown to reduce the risk of death or injury by 90% compared to being unrestrained. On the other hand, forward-facing child restraints can reduce the risk of serious injury by almost 80% compared to children restrained only by seatbelts.
The quick passage of Child Car Seat law is very timely as the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), in its latest data, reported that the number of registered annual deaths caused by transport-related crashes increased 27% to 8,636 in 2015 from 6,806 in 2006. During this nine-year period, it has also been observed that about 70,541 people died due to road crashes – that’s 7,838 deaths every year or an average of 23 fatalities each day.
“Of the total road deaths from 2006 to 2014, 17% of the victims or 12,009 were youngsters from less than one year old to 19 years old,” Atty. Comafay says. “This means that on the average, 1,334 yearly or about 4 to 5 children die daily from transport-related crashes.”
The PSA projected that the number of children aged 0 to 4 will be about 11.48 million in 2020. For 0-14 years old, the projected population is 33.31 million in 2020.
On the other hand, data released by the Department of Transportation show increasing number of vehicles in the country: 759,683 in 2010, 788,374 in 2011, 808,968 in 2012, and 830,131 in 2013.
A Nielsen Survey of Global Automotive Demand in 2014 showed 53% of Filipino households already own a car. In addition, it was found out that seven in 10 Filipino households were expected to buy a car from 2014 to 2016.
Although the Seat Belt Act of 1999 authorized the Land Transportation Office to issue rules and regulations for the use of special car seats for infants, it is not mandatory at all. The law is limited only to infants leaving a significant number of children who need protection. The standards that will guide the general public in buying, using and installing child car seats and the quality assurance are not stated in the law.
“Appropriate child restraints are specifically designed to protect infants and young children during a collision or a sudden stop by restraining their movement away from the vehicle structure and distributing the forces of a crash over the strongest parts of the body, with minimum damage to the soft tissues,” the explanatory note of Senator Ejercito’s bill said.
“Child restraints are also effective in reducing injuries that can occur during non-crash events, such as a sudden stop, a swerving evasive maneuver or opening of door during vehicle movement,” the explanatory note added.
As stated earlier, child car seats are needed only when transporting kids 12 years old and below. Actually, there are four categories. For children aged below 6 months, a rearward facing restraint is required to use. Children aged 6 months to 4 years old are to use a forward facing child restraint with an inbuilt harness, unless such child height and weight does not allow him or her to be fitted in such seat and in that case continues to use a rearward facing restraint.
Children aged 4 to 7 years old must use a booster seat with a properly fasted and adjusted seatbelt, unless again the height and weight of the child does not allow him or her to be appropriately seated in such booster seat, and in that case should continue to use a forward facing child restraint with inbuilt harness.
The final group are those children aged 7 to 12 years old. A booster seat with a properly fastened and adjusted adult seatbelt is recommended for them – unless the child’s height allows him or her to already use an adult seat with an adult seatbelt.
“All four groups are not allowed to be seated in the passenger front seat, regardless of the use of a child restraint system,” said a press statement.
Atty. Karl Marx Carumba, IDEALS advocacy officer, said that parents should not consider a child car seat a burden. Instead, they should treat it as an investment on the future of their children. “This is one of the ways of giving an advantage to your children,” he said.
On average, he said there are more than 70 child car seat brands available in the market. Prices range from as low as P3,000 to as high as P8,000. Parents can use the seats for 5 years and up to 9 years old.
