Road traffic injuries have become the second leading cause of injury death among children under 14 years of age in mainland China, and the use of child safety seats has become one of the key factors affecting children's road traffic safety as the proportion of children traveling in private cars gradually increases. Recently, the press conference of the "2023 Children's Road Safety Report" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report") hosted by Life Times was held in Beijing, and the participating experts conducted in-depth discussions on the use of child safety seats and children's road safety.
According to the survey, 1 child dies every 90 seconds from a road traffic injury globally. Ding Wenjun, health client of the Global Times, editor-in-chief and general manager of Life Times, said that in the mainland, traffic injuries are an important cause of disability and death for children and adolescents, but in fact, the vast majority of children's traffic injuries are avoidable. The prevention of child traffic injuries should be based on everyone following the rules and eliminating violations, while parents should also strengthen the supervision and safety education of children.
"Child safety seats are an important measure to prevent road traffic injuries, and the availability rate of child safety seats in mainland China still needs to be improved compared to many countries." In order to increase the use of child safety seats in families, in October 2020, the newly revised Law on the Protection of Minors included the use of child safety seats in national legislation for the first time, kicking off the era of the rule of law for children's car safety, Ding Wenjun said. The 14th Five-Year Plan and the outline of the long-term goals for 2035 also put forward that children's car safety is an important aspect of improving the level of care services for minors and strengthening family building.
Fan Li, deputy director of the Expert Committee of the National Vehicle Driving Safety Engineering Technology Research Center, made a speech
Fan Li, a guide expert of the report and deputy director of the expert committee of the National Vehicle Driving Safety Engineering Technology Research Center, pointed out that studies have shown that the correct use of child safety seats can reduce infant mortality by about 70%, and the mortality rate of young children aged 1-4 years old by 54%-80%. At present, 76% of cars in mainland China are not equipped with child safety seats, 40% of parents have let their children sit in the passenger seat, 43% of parents choose to hold their children when riding in the car, and 10% of parents believe that airbags can effectively protect children.
"Even when using child safety seats, many families have misunderstandings. For example, only 49% of parents learned to install it on their own according to the instructions when installing for the first time; When using a child safety seat, 16.6% of parents are unsure whether to use it correctly; Among the families who have used child safety seats, 6.7% of parents have installed child safety seats in the passenger seat, 24.9% of parents have not checked whether the child safety seat is firmly installed, 43.6% of parents have not checked whether the child safety belt is fastened, and 44.6% of parents do not understand the possible hidden dangers of incorrect use of child safety seats. Fan Li added.
Zhou Hong, deputy chief physician of the Emergency Department of the Emergency General Hospital, made a speech
Zhou Hong, deputy chief physician of the emergency department of the Emergency General Hospital, said that although child safety seats cannot prevent vehicle collisions, they can mitigate the consequences of traffic accidents. Because the child safety seat can fix the minor in one position to prevent it from colliding with the interior of the car or being ejected outside the car, the child safety seat can also distribute the force generated by the collision to the strongest part of the minor's body. Through a number of tests and studies, it has been found that child safety seats can indeed become "life-saving chairs" in traffic accidents.
Fan Li reminded that parents should configure appropriate child safety seats according to different stages of children's growth and development. Infants should travel in a rear-facing car seat until 1 year of age and weigh 18 kg; When the infant reaches 1 year and 18 kg, a forward-facing child safety seat should be used.
"At present, the restraint system of child safety seats on the market is generally a five-point type, that is, two points at the shoulders, two points on the hips, and one point between the legs, so that the energy can be distributed to as many areas of the body as possible." Fan Li said that when the child reaches the age of 4 and 36 kg, the child booster seat should be used, its function is to raise the child so that the shoulder strap just passes the midpoint of the child's shoulder and the waist belt just passes the upper thigh; Adult seat belts can be used when children reach 8 years old or reach a height of 1.45 meters.
It is reported that the equipment of mainland child safety seats is spreading from developed areas of the mainland to the whole country. With the newly revised Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Minors and the Outline for the Development of Children in China (2021-2030), which were revised in 2021, which call for the promotion of the use of child safety seats, the rate of child safety seats in mainland China has increased by 25% from 2021 to 2022, protecting the safety of child passengers on a larger scale.
At the same time, we also hope that more people can sow the "seeds of traffic safety" in their hearts to jointly protect children's safe travel.