Car seats and Boosters provide protection for infants and children in an event of a car crash. With the Child Seat Law in place and ready for implementation, many netizens find the legislation and regulation quite strict and confusing.
While the law will not take effect immediately, parents will need to prepare for the full implementation of this law.
The current PH law, RA # 11229, requires children younger than 12 years of age to be properly secured in a child passenger safety seat system during the operation of a motor vehicle and not to be seated in the front passenger’s seat.
The law also introduces a height requirement relating to the restraint of children during the operation of the motor vehicle at twelve years old, unless the child is taller than four feet and nine inches (1.4986 meters) in height. The law however does not specify approved specifications for the Child Seat as of yet as there are specific types of child seats or restraints, depending on the child’s height and weight.
The law also states that the Child restraint should bear the Philippine Standard mark (PS) and the Import Clearance Certificate sticker. This is in line with the UN Regulation 129 regarding child safety devices for vehicles. But without further rules and regulations, a lot of questions are still left unanswered.
In the US, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is tasked to inspect that all car seats sold in the US Market are certified. The NHTSA also gives recommendations on the correct specification for the child’s age and size. Although the laws may differ slightly from State to State, only one standard of NHTSA certification is recognized as a legal standard for safe travel.
If we compare it to Singapore with a well-established Child Seat Law, their law states that a person below 1.35 meters in height is not allowed to travel in a motor vehicle unless they are properly secured by an approved child restraint appropriate to their height and weight, or a body restraining seat belt when seated on a booster seat cushion or when using a seat with an approved adjustable seat belt.
Singapore Traffic Police will approve the Child restraint device that have passed crash tests and received certification from America, Britain, Australia, Europe and Japan. Funny it doesn’t mention China, where majority of these seats are probably made.
How about taxis and TNVSs’? Under the law, taxis are not exempted from the laws on car seats although the Department of Transportation (DOTr) is still examining this matter.
In Singapore, Taxis are exempted from installing child restraints. This is due to the old law that has not been amended since the 70’s. The reason was that it would not be reasonable or practical for public transport vehicles to carry a number and variety of child seats of different sizes. Taxis though are not exempted from the laws of physics and your children are at equal risk of death and injury if they travel without a child restraint. Australia and the UK exempts taxis from car seat requirements too.
With the additional cost of equipping our cars with these child restraints, I am sure a lot of parents will be complaining. Well, there are certainly very relevant points to the implementation of this law. The life of your child is much more important than any amount that you save not buying these safety devices. But yes, some question the timing. Is it really necessary when we are still suffering from a pandemic? This I leave up to the parents.