KUALA LUMPUR: With only eight months left before the compulsory implementation of child car seats for all private cars, the usage rate remains low at only 26 per cent.
Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Kamarudin Jaffar said the low rate was because parents were still taking the matter lightly, or were not able to afford them.
“We admit that some parents still don’t take the safety of their children seriously.
“Some parents still think that their children will be safe just seated on their laps or at the back seat,” he said after officiating the Malaysia Buckle Up campaign here, today.
He said based on Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (Miros) studies, 31 out of 53 (58 per cent) children and infants died due to road accidents.
“Studies have also shown that an infant or a small child under 7kg hurled forward in an accident can have an impact equivalent to an adult falling from a five-storey height.”
Kamarudin added that the usage of these Child Restraint Systems (CRS) could potentially reduce risk of injury or death up to 70 per cent, and reduce risks between 54 and 80 per cent to children aged one to four years old.
It was also proven that child car seats could reduce risks of injury or death to 59 per cent for children aged four to seven years old, he said.
“Through the campaigns that we have done and plan to do, we are confident that the compliance rate will increase.”
In October last year, Transport Minister Anthony Loke had announced that child car seats would be made mandatory for all private cars by 2020.
This new requirement was in line with United Nations’ Regulation 44 (UN R44), which stipulated that a restraining device must be provided for children traveling in power-driven vehicles, such as a car.
On the proposal to waive the sales and service tax (SST) for these seats, Kamarudin said negotiations with the Finance Ministry were still ongoing and a positive response was expected.
Meanwhile, Miros director-general Dr Siti Zaharah Ishak said the institute was developing implementation guidelines for car seat usage.
The guidelines would include three aspects, namely CRS compliance standard and product safety rules, usage procedures of CRS in vehicles, and enforcement procedures of CRS on the road, at business premises and online sales.
“We are still at the development stage, and will complete these guidelines and present them to the Transport Ministry for endorsement in June,” she added.