At the meeting to disseminate new regulations on ensuring safety for children in the Law on Traffic Safety and Order on the afternoon of November 15, organized by the Center for Health Counseling and Community Development (CHD), Colonel Nguyen Quang Nhat, Head of the Department of Guidance, Propaganda, Investigation and Resolution of Traffic Accidents (Traffic Police Department) said that according to the provisions of the Law on Traffic Safety and Order, children under 10 years old or under 1.35m tall are not allowed to sit in the same row as the driver and must use appropriate safety equipment. However, this regulation will not take effect until 2026 (1 year later than the Law on Traffic Safety and Order).
Explaining this, Colonel Nguyen Quang Nhat said that the above regulation took effect one year later than the Law on Road Traffic Safety and Order to have time to disseminate information to help people adapt to the new equipment.
At the meeting, MSc. Duong Kim Tuan, Center for Policy Research and Injury Prevention (University of Public Health) said that car ownership in Vietnam is increasing rapidly.
For example, in Hanoi, the car ownership growth rate is 113.7%/year (2014 - 2018) and the car ownership rate is 60 cars/1,000 people (2018). Along with that is the rapid increase in the trend of car ownership in suburban areas and the need to travel long distances of families with children.
These are two of the factors that tend to increase the risk of traffic accidents involving cars.
According to MSc. Duong Kim Tuan, while the trend of car ownership is increasing rapidly, the use of safety equipment for children is not commensurate. This is the reason why child casualties when participating in traffic in cars are increasing.
Statistics from the Center show that currently only 1.3% of cars use child safety devices. Of these, 2.6% are in Hanoi, 1.1% in Ho Chi Minh City and 0% in Da Nang. Most people who use special safety devices are used to them when they are abroad or have learned from abroad.
MSc. Duong Kim Tuan added that children need to use safety equipment until they can use adult seat belts. Children can only use seat belts when they are approximately 150 cm tall. Because scientific studies have concluded that seat belts equipped in cars are designed for adults, with a height of 150 cm or more.
Therefore, child safety devices are the recommended solution to reduce the risk of injury and death to children.
Regarding this issue, Dr. Tran Huu Minh - Chief of Office of the National Traffic Safety Committee affirmed that the cost of compliance with the mandatory use of child safety devices has been carefully studied. Calculations and statistics show that the cost of purchasing child safety devices in cars only accounts for 0.3 to less than 1% of the value of the car. The cost of compliance is at a reasonable level.
