Keeping kids buckled up safely ONE of the most important jobs you have as a parent is keeping your child safe when they are travelling in a vehicle. And the number one way to do this is by ensuring your child is safely buckled up. South Africa’s rules of the road require that all people travelling in a vehicle wear seat belts and that all children under three-years-old are strapped into a properly secured car seat. Seat belts and car seats are important because they have been proven to save lives. They reduce the seriousness of injuries and prevent the child from being ejected from the vehicle in an accident. They also prevent injury to other passengers – an unbuckled child could be hurled forward in a crash, injuring front-seated passengers. As a parent, it’s important that you: 1. Find a car seat that fits your child. As children grow, how they sit in your car will change. Make sure the car seat you buy is designed to fit your child’s current size and age. 2. Ensure that the car seat is the right fit for your car. • Not all car seats fit in all cars. Test the car seat you plan to buy to make sure it fits well in your car. • Read your car’s manual, the label on the seat belt and the instructions on the car seat itself, to make sure you use the car seat correctly. 3. Take the next step to a booster seat when you answer “yes” to any of these questions: • Does your child exceed the car seat’s height or weight limits? • Are your child’s shoulders above the car seat’s top harness slots? • Are the top of your child’s ears above the top of the car seat? Booster seats are best used only when a child has outgrown a safety seat. Booster seats raise the seating position of the child so that the adult seat belt lies properly across the chest, crossing diagonally at the child’s shoulder rather than the neck, and low across the pelvis. Always ensure that you keep the booster seat on the back seat of the car.
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