The global NCAP tests gave us shocking results about the most popular cars in the country performing outrageously bad in terms of passenger safety. Unlike the developed nations where children are not allowed to sit on the front seats till a certain age, India has no regulations for the safety of a child in passenger vehicles. The Child Restraint System (CRS) is a major tool in assuring the safety of your child in a vehicle and will be mandatory in all Indian vehicles come 1st October, 2014.
CRS is a hard backed child safety seat that assures of safety of toddlers while travelling. With the rule of CRS being mandated on Indian cars, every manufacturer will equip passenger vehicles with the provision of installing a CRS seat for all weight groups on at least one seating position of the car. The manufacturer or the dealer will provide the guidelines for the recommended safety position as well as the guidelines for the fitment and use of the CRS in the vehicle.
The front seats of a vehicle are designed keeping adults in mind and so are the airbags. An airbag deployed with a child in the front seat can be catastrophic for the child. Moreover, the seatbelts do not provide the adequate lock-in to a child as it would to an adult. The CRS seat is like a multi-point harness-like restraint system available for children between 10 – 36 kgs. The child would be affixed in the seat giving him maximum protection possible in case of a collision. CRS is also followed in buses, aircrafts and other modes of transport in developed nations.
With India witnessing over 1.32 lakh fatalities every year in road accidents, the highest in the world; the CRS could help reduce the number of fatalities and will be the first step towards children’s safety which has been absent till date. With modern technologies like ABS, EBD, collision warning and emergency braking making it to our cars, we can hope that basic safety aspects like airbags, ABS as well as CRS are mandated on every passenger car plying on our roads. This also comes as a strong warning to drivers to observe rules of the road for your own safety.
Source – Economic Times
