Parents, by now you should know that child car seats are a must-have by law since January this year. Sadly, car seats are not cheap as the most basic child safety seats can go over RM200 – a price point that hurts the wallets of parents with more than one child.
Although the government has taken this into account, even exempting larger families, the safety of our children should not be compromised because of this. This is why we are hosting a car seat donation drive in collaboration with Kedai BLESS.
If you have a car seat to give away, you can donate it to Kedai BLESS and recipients of these free car seats will be nominated by a friend.
Help protect our kids
Car collisions cause passengers to jerk around and children that are not properly secured can be catapulted against the surfaces of the car, or even flung out the window.
Recently, a two year-old toddler landed on PLUS highway after he was flung out the window in a car collision as he sat on his mother’s lap. Luckily, he survived. However, this is a common way that children are being “secured”.
Last year, Malaysia was listed with the third highest fatality rate from road traffic accidents within Asia, while 1,559 child deaths of those under 10-years-old were recorded due to road accidents between 2007 and 2017.
Never take road safety for granted, always secure your children.
Shockingly, the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety disclosed that only 30% of the population use child car seats. So, how are the rest of 70% being secured? These are the two common and potentially fatal ways:
- Sitting on laps: Even for a quick trip, simply holding a child in your arm is never safe. This could cause them to be exposed to the harsh force of airbags during a collision, which in turn, can cause fractures. Furthermore, human reaction to a collision would cause your grip to loosen and leave them hitting the hard car surfaces.
- Using a seatbelt: While seatbelts are appropriate for adults, children below 135cm are not subject to the same safety aspect as their bodies are smaller. Hence, seatbelts are not properly positioned or fastened in place.
Your kids are vulnerable
The bodies of children are not capable like us – a baby’s skeleton mostly consist of soft cartilage that has yet to develop into bones, while their organs have not formed proper protection. Additionally, their smaller sizes allow them to be easily flung around and the slightest of bumps could cause severe injury.
It is reported that proper child safety with car seats reduces the risk of death by 71% in infants, and 54% for those between one and four-years-old. Booster seats could also reduce the risk of injury for children between 8 and 12-years-old by 19%, compared to securing them with a seatbelt.
There are various types of car seats made for infants, toddlers and young children. They are designed to help reduce the impact on children in collision, while securing their strongest body parts and reducing the force.
Donate your car seats or nominate your friend for a FREE car seat!
Every donated car seat will be given to a family in need and this is where we need you – you can donate your car seats at any Kedai BLESS locations.
Who receives the car seats? A deserving friend. Here is what you need to do:
- Download theAsianParent app on Playstore or on the App Store.
- Upload a post on the app about why your friend deserves to receive a car seat. Include a picture of their family.
- Make sure you use the hashtag #tApMYcares, so we can find your posts!
Kedai BLESS locations
So, let’s work together and protect Malaysia’s kids!
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