As a parent, or guardian, do you know of the provisions of section 126(1-5) of the National Road Traffic Regulations, 2012 which makes it mandatory for all occupants of a vehicle to use a seatbelt for their safety? Do you know that section 3 specifically states that; the driver of a motor vehicle shall be responsible for the children who are passengers in such a vehicle and shall ensure -the proper use of child locks in every vehicle where one is installed; the proper use of child safety seats for every child that is seven years and below and that child seats are not installed in the front row.

The same section in subsection 4, however exempts only children with medical report by a licensed medical practitioner that it is inadvisable on medical grounds for the child to wear a seat belt.
I know that the use of seat belt especially among adults is commendable. Unfortunately, most of us do not see any sense in protecting our children while driving by strapping them. Some lap them. Others leave them unattended to in moving vehicles. Some claim strapping these kids in a car seat is alien. This group maintains that strapping children in a car is meant for the whiteman, not a blackman. I believe this group knows what they are saying. Afterall,these vehicles were manufactured in Oshodi by our Engineers. Others say the cost for a car seat is high even though the cheapest among these cars cost as low as 500,000 naira while others go for as high as 5 million naira, compared to car seats which range from just about 25,000 naira or less for the protection of the life of God’s precious gift. These same parents would not mind hanging out with friends and business partners to spend thousands on drinks, pepper soup and other extras.The female ones would prefer spending thousands of naira on designer shoes and bags, but not on the safety of their children.This is what we call choices.
Seat belt driving culture is no doubt commendable, yet motorists don’t seem to care about child safety. Daily, these children, whether in school buses or family vehicles, are transported without any iota of safety. Despite the series of child safety campaigns with themes such as,’’dont kill the child, kill the bad habit’’ and children are our future, protect them, aimed at raising safety awareness, child safety is still not a priority among motorists.

Road safety crisis is the leading cause of preventable deaths; the 3rd largest cause of disabilities. In Africa, it is the 2nd largest cause of death after aids/HIV and even the new entrant, Ebola. In the same Africa, there is generally no costing data making cost of crashes difficult to estimate except for few countries. A study has shown that 10% of global road deaths occur in Africa though only 4% of world’s registered vehicles are in the continent. This study posits that if reporting of road crashes were to improve, the road crash index in the continent will be different as it most likely would show more deaths. South Africa and Nigeria, according to this study accounts for most of the reported deaths.
These deaths, according to the study are caused mostly by human error, and vehicle factors that include the following; over speeding, dangerous overtaking, alcohol and drug abuse, negligence of drivers, poor driving standards, overloaded people or goods vehicles, poor tyre maintenance, burst tyre, bad roads and hilly terrain, negligence of pedestrians, distraction of drivers by passengers, cell phone use among others.

The truth is that the world is concerned about child safety.This is because road traffic injuries alone are the leading cause of deaths among children 15-19years and the second leading cause among 10-14 years old. These injuries are not inevitable.They are preventable.Ironically most parents are notconcerned despite the rights of children to safety as contained in the 1989 United Nations convention on the rights of the child, ratified by almost all government, which states that children around the world have a right to a safe environment, and to protection from injury and violence. The convention stresses the responsibilities of society to protect children (from birth up to the age of 18years). Even the 2000 United Nations Millennium Development Goals resolution sets as its fourth goals, the need to reduce by two thirds the mortality rates of children under the age of 5 years.
In 2002, the United Nations General Assembly held a special session on children, from which a document; A World fit for Children, was produced. This document sets out a number of health goals for children. One of such goals which is specific to injuries, calls on all member states to,’’reduce child injuries due to accidents or other causes through the development and implantation of appropriate measures.’’ In 2005, the same WHO and UNICEF issued calls for greatly expanded global efforts to prevent child injury. This was followed in 2006 by WHO’s ten year plan of activities on child injury.

In addition,the WHO/UNICEF in 2008 in a report, titled, World Report on child injury prevention, expressed concern that every day around the world, the lives of more than 2000 families are torn apart by the loss of a child to an unintentional injury or so-called ‘’accidents’’ that could have been prevented…’’It noted that children injuries have been neglected for many years. Children’s maturity and their interest and needs differ from adults, the report further stated.Therefore; simply reproducing injury prevention strategies that are relevant to adult does not adequately protect children, it warned.

The report affirmed that there are proven interventions such as child seat which is the trust of this campaign.Others include, cycling helmets, child- resistant packaging for medications, fencing around swimming pools, hot water tap temperature regulations and window guards, to name a few
The above is proof that children, rank high in the vulnerable user graph? Last year, the incidence of child death was worrisome. With the 2015 enforcement deadline for compulsory use of seatbelt by all occupants, we must emulate global safe practices such as the United Kingdom where alarm over the”disastrous” figures for 2006 vulnerable road users particularly children prompted drastic actions.

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