Countries with no child safety seat laws
By serenidity
@serenidity (641)
India
July 22, 2008 10:39am CST
Well, I know the initial reaction is "absolutely unsafe !" but hear me out. I come from a country where children sit in the car (including infants) without a car seat. There is no law in the country for children to be restrained in a child safety seat. For one thing, although there are many cars on the road, the economy is not as autocentric as in the west. You will see an equal number of other transports on the road as well. Secondly uptill recently people never travelled long distances (and most still don't do) by car like in the US or Uk or other countries. Public transport like trains and buses have a huge network and vacations are usually planned accordingly. The last thing for consideration is the speed. The volume of traffic, condition of roads and the cars themselves, all make it impossible to drive at speeds which are usually normal in the west. On an average most people in my country would be driving at 40 miles an hour (maximum) at least in the bigger cities. Usually even lower speed than that. So even if there is an accident, it is not necessarily fatal. It may look like I am advocating non-use of a child seat, believe me I am not. But at the same time, I feel that rules are made keeping in mind the local conditions and prevelant circumstances. If some countries do not have laws for a child safety seat, maybe they don't really need one.
2 responses
@jillhill (37354)
• United States
22 Jul 08
I am not avocating no seat belts either....but when I was growing up we didn't have them...and when my kids were growing up there weren't any rules about it...and surprisingly we all lived. I do understand that different cultures have different ideas......so you got to do what you got to do!
1 person likes this
@serenidity (641)
• India
23 Jul 08
Thats exactly the point. I am sure car seats are safe and all, but look at the countries which won't have them, an adult will be with a child always in the backseat. And I know the children would deifinitely like that more !!
@celestial052506 (2914)
• Philippines
22 Jul 08
I will agree with you. I can speak to my country too. There is no child safety rules applied in where I lived. Kids will ride with the adults and for the safety of the little kids they will sit on the lap of the parents and parents will cuddle them it is just the same as they have safety seat.
since most of us are public riders, we have no seat belts except the driver. It is mandated by the Government that drivers must have seat belt. Well, the passengers will just hold on to something on the bus, to avoid being thrown when the driver suddenly stepped on the break. Yes, different cultures have different ideas and different laws. let's face that reality.
since most of us are public riders, we have no seat belts except the driver. It is mandated by the Government that drivers must have seat belt. Well, the passengers will just hold on to something on the bus, to avoid being thrown when the driver suddenly stepped on the break. Yes, different cultures have different ideas and different laws. let's face that reality.
@spalladino (17891)
• United States
22 Jul 08
You know, it wasn't all that long ago when the U.S. didn't require child safety seats either. I can remember bringing my first three kids home from the hospital and I was holding each one of them. I can also remember by son leaping around in the back seat when he was two and three years old...this was about 25 years ago. I do agree with you, the local conditions should determine child safety laws.
@squirt051305 (381)
• United States
22 Jul 08
My mom was telling me about that also on how she use to hold us in the car from the hospital. It was ok then but now there's alot more traffic and alot more accidents. I wouldn't trust not to have babies/children in safety seats. At the hospital where I had my son this May I had to have my car seat install by the hospital before I could take him home with me. I know the fire department also installs them if you can't make it to the days they do it in the hospital.@serenidity (641)
• India
23 Jul 08
yes, conditions have changed, its just that in my country yet, the situation is still not the same as US. I think car seats are very convenient if you want to travel alone with a child as well, you can put the child in the car seat and drive. but in my country, people would be horrified to think of that option. They would rather hold the baby in the lap, let someobody else drive than have the baby alone in the carseat. Two wheeler accidents are more common than cars in the place i live.
