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Drive safe with the little one
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Few people in India are aware of child seats and how important they are
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It is surprising to see so many cars on the road with a family inside and the child, usually, a baby or a kid that’s less than a decade-old, is seated in his or her mother’s lap. Most families do not realise the risk and danger they are p
utting their young children in by not providing them with the required seats. Imagine, if the driver had to suddenly brake hard? The mother would be flung forward and the child would get squashed between her and the dashboard. The seatbelt in a car, engineered to restrain you in the event of a crash, is designed for adults. While in many countries, child seats are mandatory, in India, many people aren’t even aware of the concept. Read on for a guide on child seats and how you can protect your child.
Infants should always be given a rear-facing seat; this is because a rear-facing child seat will offer better protection for their back, neck and spine. In fact, make use of the child seat as soon as the baby gets out of the hospital. The baby should be in a rear facing seat till he or she weighs at least nine kilos. Keep your child in a rear-facing seat for as long as possible as this offers more protection than a forward-facing seat.
The two types of seats you can get are infant-only seats and convertible seats. The infant-only seats can be used from birth to when the child weighs nine kilos. The convertible seats can be used as rear-facing seats for infants and then they can be converted into forward-facing seats when the child is older. The seats are best kept at the rear and never put a child seat in the front passenger seat especially when there is a passenger airbag.
When a child weighs nine kilos, he or she can be seated in a forward facing seat until he or she weighs 18 kilos. This means that roughly, a child can use this seat from nine-months to four years of age. The best way to know when your child has outgrown this kind of seat is when his or her head is higher than the top of the seat.
If your child has outgrown a child seat, he or she now needs a booster seat. These seats are designed so that the lap and shoulder seat belts fit properly. Such seats are ideal for children under the age of eight, weighing 18kg or more, but less than 36kg, and who stand less than 4 feet, 9 inches tall.
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Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Hyderabad
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