‘CHJILDREN are at a higher risk in road crashes compared to adults; given their frail bodies, normal injuries for adults could be fatal to them. They require special care and treatment to avoid threat to life.”—Ateneo School of Government
Three years ago, the Geneva-based World Health Organization (WHO) reported that about 1.25 million road traffic deaths occur annually all over the globe. Road traffic is considered a leading cause of death among young people aged 15 to 29 years old. Among children aged 5 to 9 years old, it is the sixth leading cause of death.
About 90 percent of all these road deaths happened in low- and middle-income countries although they only 50 percent of the world’s vehicles.
In the Philippines, for every 100,000 Filipinos, about 10,379 of them die as a result of road crashes. This lost of lives can be translated to some 2.6 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.
According to the Health Policy Notes of the Department of Health, road crashes claim the lives of children aged 0 to 17 years old. Road crashes is now the second leading of death (with mortality rate of 5.85 per 100,000 population) among children, after drowning.
Road crashes need not happen. “They’re not random acts of God,” points out Dr. Jeffrey Runge, head of the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. “They’re predictable, and therefore, they’re preventable.”
In fact, road crashes should not be considered an accident. “An accident refers to an unfortunate incident that happens by chance, or one that is unexpected and unintentional. In short, no one is at fault,” explains Atty. Melisa Jane B. Comafay, who is affiliated with the Initiatives for Dialogue and Empowerment through Alternative Legal Services Inc. (IDEALS).
In comparison, “a road crash is when vehicles collide with another or with an object, and the fault cannot be disregarded,” Comafay says. “Thus, to call it as merely an accident suggests that the event was something beyond control and it implies a description with an excuse embedded within it.
“Though a road crash is not premeditated,” she further says, “there is negligence on the part of the driver due to various reasons or other contributory factors. These reasons can include, dangerous driving that result in possible convictions due to the death or loss of property, such as driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.”
According to Comafay, until traffic authorities and government officials will not start calling a road crash a “road crash” and still maintain it as an accident, the Philippines won’t be on the right track to road safety.
There are five risk factors on road safety, according to the United Nations health agency. These are speed, helmet on motorcycles, drinking and driving, seatbelts, and child safety seats (or child restraints system).
“While the Philippines has laws on the first four indicators, there remains a huge gap in the law that would protect our very own children, including infants, from the injuries or death caused by a road crash,” Comafay deplores.
And this is where Senate Bill 1447, filed by Sen. Joseph Victor G. Ejercito comes in. “Seat belts are not adapted to infants and young children,” said the explanatory note of the bill. “Without a road safety law specifically targeting children and infants, it is expected that more children would become vulnerable to road crashes amid the continuing growth in youth population and the corresponding increase in the demand for cars among Filipino consumers.”
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), in its latest data, reported that the number of registered annual deaths caused by transport-related crashes increased 27 percent to 8,636 in 2015, from 6,806 in 2006. During this nine-year period, it has also been observed that about 70,541 people died due to road crashes—that’s 7,838 deaths every year or an average of 23 fatalities each day.
“Of the total road deaths from 2006 to 2014, 17 percent of the victims or 12,000 were youngsters from less than one year old to 19 years old,” Comafay says. “This means that on the average, 1,334 yearly or about 4 to 5 children die daily from transport-related crashes.”
The PSA projected that the number of children aged 0 to 4 will be about 11.48 million in 2020. For 0 to 14 years old, the projected population is 33.31 million in 2020.
On the other hand, data released by the Department of Transportation show increasing number of vehicles in the country: 759,683 in 2010, 788,374 in 2011; 808,968 in 2012, and 830,131 in 2013.
A Nielsen Survey of Global Automotive Demand in 2014 showed 53 percent of Filipino households own a car. In addition, it was found out that seven in 10 Filipino households were expected to buy a car from 2014 to 2016.
Although the Seat Belt Act of 1999 authorized the Land Transportation Office to issue rules and regulations for the use of special car seats for infants, it is not mandatory at all. The law is limited only to infants leaving a significant number of children who need protection. The standards that will guide the general public in buying, using and installing child car seats and the quality assurance are not stated in the law.
This is the reason why the Child Car Seat Law must be passed. “The passage of such a law requiring the use of child seats potentially has the effect of protecting millions of our children being transported daily in cars alone,” Comafay urges.
Jason Salvador agrees. “The more we are without a law protecting our children on the road, the more they are vulnerable to road crashes. Deaths and injuries among infants and children caused by road crashes are preventable and the use of child car seats is one of the most effective ways of doing it,” he says.
Salvador is the project manager of the road safety project of Ateneo School of Government. During a recent policy forum in Davao City—the third after two fora were held in Manila and Cebu—he said that the House of Representatives has already approved on third reading House Bill 6938 or the Child Safety in Motor Vehicles Act of 2017.
At the Senate, the bill authored by Senator Ejercito is still under deliberations. “Both bills mandate drivers of privately owned motor vehicles to use child car seats in transporting kids 12 years old and below,” Salvador says.
WHO studies have shown that child car seats can reduce the risk of death and injuries in road crashes by up to 70 percent among infants and 54 percent to 80 percent among young children.
“Appropriate child restraints are specifically designed to protect infants and young children during a collision or a sudden stop by restraining their movement away from the vehicle structure and distributing the forces of a crash over the strongest parts of the body, with minimum damage to the soft tissues,” the explanatory note of Senator Ejercito’s bill said.
“Child restraints are also effective in reducing injuries that can occur during non-crash events, such as a sudden stop, a swerving evasive maneuver or opening of door during vehicle movement,” the explanatory note added.
Atty. Karl Marx Carumba, Ideals advocacy officer, said that parents should not consider a child car seat a burden. Instead, they should treat it as an investment on the future of their children. “This is one of the ways of giving an advantage to your children,” he said.
On average, he said there are more than 70 child car seat brands available in the market. Prices range from as low as P3,000 to as high as P8,000. Parents can use the seats for 5 years and up to 9 years.
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