Drive to toughen child car seat law gaining ground

Wallis Wang

A move to tighten the law on child car seats in private vehicles is gaining ground amid a rise in children injured in traffic accidents.

It comes as the administration plans to amend the law next year, requiring children under seven years old or below 1.35 meters tall to be strapped to a child car seat.

But taxis are expected to be exempted from the requirement.

Currently, the Transport Department requires children under three years old to sit on a child car seat when sitting in the front and rear seats of a private cars, light buses and good vehicles. Children aged three or above should wear a seat belt if a child car seat is not available.

In a letter to lawmaker David Lam Tzit-yuen on road safety, the Transport and Logistics Bureau said it is taking forward four amendment proposals, including measures to tighten requirements for using child car seats.

"We propose that children aged seven or less must use child-restraining devices in private cars, unless they reach a body height of 1.35m," the bureau said.

It also proposed to extend the mandatory requirements of wearing seat belts on private cars, taxis and public light buses and other vehicles.

"This includes rear passenger seats of newly registered private light buses and goods vehicles, all passenger seats of public and private buses, and the driver and passenger seats of special purpose vehicles," it said. "If those seats are fitted with a seat belt, passengers are required to wear it."

The bureau also aims to tighten the use of mobile communication devices by drivers while driving.

"We propose strengthening the regulation in terms of the quantity, size and position of mobile communication devices to be placed in a car," it said.

Cyclists, drivers and passengers of motor tricycles will be required to wear helmets, the bureau proposed.

The bureau said it received positive response from the Legco panel on transport, the Transport Advisory Committee, the Road Safety Council and the Road Safety Research Committee between July and August last year.

"We are working on the drafting of the legislation. The relevant departments are conferring about details of amendments," it said, adding it aims to submit the amendments to Legco within next year.

Transport Department figures showed 359 children aged 12 or below were injured in traffic accidents in the first 11 months this year - 55 percent higher than the 231 injuries in the entirety of last year.

The figures show that 16 percent of injured children were not sitting on a car seat or wearing a seat belt.

Ringo Lee Yiu-pui, honorary life president of the Hong Kong China Automobile Association, said it is necessary to amend the law to tighten the car seat requirement.

Speaking on radio, Lee said Hong Kong drivers and parents are not aware of child safety, urging authorities to impose stricter requirements soon.

"We don't have many expressways in Hong Kong and most cars drive within urban areas. In overseas countries where there are lots of expressways, if there is an accident and a child is not wearing a seat belt, the accident will hurt them seriously," he said.

Lee said it is dangerous for adults to merely hold children in cars.

"When a traffic accident happens, adults may loosen their grip on the children to support themselves or hold children tighter. If a baby is only 10 kilograms while the car is driving at a speed of 40 kilometers per hour when the accident happens, the impact on the baby is 30 times greater, or 300 kilograms of force. How can a baby withstand 300kg of force?" he said.

Lee said a seven-month-old boy was flung from a car in an accident in Tai Po last month, sending alarms on child safety.

A video circulating online in August shows a man allowing a boy to sit in the driver's seat and play with the steering wheel.

wallis.wang@singtaonewscorp.com