Tebogo Msimanga |
The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) hosted a webinar on Thursday on child restraints under the theme “Buckle Them Up”. This was part of October Transport month activities. It highlighted that road traffic collisions are a leading cause of death and injuries of children under the age of 14 in South Africa. It was pointed out that 1 017 children died on South African roads last year.
The Manager for data analysis and reporting at RTMC, Magadi Gainewe, said child deaths constituted eight percent of the total number of road traffic fatalities in the country in 2019. “The majority of children died when they collided with vehicles while walking in the streets and others were ejected when vehicles overturned”.
KwaZulu Natal, Gauteng, Eastern Cape are the provinces responsible for 52 percent of child deaths on the roads.
Peggy Mars, from Wheels Well, stated that car seats were designed to keep children safe. She said car seats and restraints can reduce child deaths by 71% and injuries by 67% if properly used.
Experts agreed that child restraints and child seats were the most important method to prevent child injuries and fatalities in transport crashes.
