Parents urged to invest in child car seats

[xminator]

In 20 years here I have never seen a Thai child in a car seat.

I don't even know if they are available here in Thailand...and in any case....parents like to have their kids on their laps in the front.......baby seats are expensive.....so mom and pop wouldn't use them!

Car seats yes are yes expensive

but the biggest challenge I have ever had was trying to show my wife how much the life of our daughter is worth

she just can not understand

" Children are something you give to parents to keep them happy in their older year"

A rear facing child seat have to be less then 10k baht in thailand.

What to remember here is that a child in parents lap is dead even in a low speed accident. Or the typical oooha there is a broken truck in my lane, still traveling for 40k when hit.

Problem I have faced many times traveling without an infant is getting a taxi with seat belts. Even if call and specifically ask for rear seat seat belts, most often the tired driver turn up without and spend 5 minutes under the rear seats finding out they are not there at all. I have sent a lot of bangkok taxis away because of this.

[mrfill]

614 children younger than 15 died in accidents

101 were inside a car.

So, 513 were not inside a car.

I think motorcycles are the main problem here. I often see whole families on one motorcycle, with the babies squeezed between the adults.

Well then, they should get be using a child motorbike seat. Ridiculous?

http://www.designbuzz.com/5-motorcycle-baby-seat-designs-move-toddler-comfort/

Legal even in the UK....

[realenglish1]

I have to chime in again on this topic as it eats away at me . Thai parents spend untold sums of money to help improve their child's life but for some reason dont care about their safetly.

There is a reason for a car seat for kids. It is impossible to hold onto a child while you are going 30 kilometers an hour and either are hit or hit another car. YOUR Child becomes a projectile .

Why in the name of god will you not restrain your child in the car. Nothing will change until a noted public figure looses a child to a car accedent because they wanted to be kind to the child by

holding and playing with the infant in the front or back seat. Stop and think about it Why is there a law that requires us to where a seat belt . So then why would you think that child does not need to be restrained.

People who think otherwise are morons Plain and simple

[Thai at Heart]

In 20 years here I have never seen a Thai child in a car seat.

I don't even know if they are available here in Thailand...and in any case....parents like to have their kids on their laps in the front.......baby seats are expensive.....so mom and pop wouldn't use them!

Car seats yes are yes expensive

but the biggest challenge I have ever had was trying to show my wife how much the life of our daughter is worth

she just can not understand

" Children are something you give to parents to keep them happy in their older year"

You don't have to spend stupid money to give your child a chance. You can pick up a perfectly adequate car seat for 3500 baht. Folks who are spending 750k-1.5M on a car can afford that. If you put a priceless and fragile treasure worth 10 billion baht in a car and said to a Thai, you have to drive from A to B at 70 mph for 500 miles, they would restrain and protect the cargo from damage. Put their children in whose value is beyond monetary measure (well mine are to me anyway) and what do they do............nothing. All the police have to do is stop those that they see breaking the law, impose a whopping on the spot fine and within 2 months most thais would be driving round with seat belts on with kids in the back seat. Simple, hit them where it clearly hurts the most, in their wallet.

And yet they universally claim to love their children more than westerners love theirs.

[Showbags]

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In 20 years here I have never seen a Thai child in a car seat.

I don't even know if they are available here in Thailand...and in any case....parents like to have their kids on their laps in the front.......baby seats are expensive.....so mom and pop wouldn't use them!

Yes you can...in fact we have 2 of them that are no longer used if anyone wants one....but needs a reupholster job as some little rats found it comfy also.

AllCentral shopping centres have them....plus other spots these days.

[kimamey]

These numbers are nothing compared to the number of little ones riding on or carried about on motorcycles.

And how about the deaths of Thai's riding in the back of pickup trucks and being involved in accidents. This is especially true when I see children riding in the beds of trucks.

Maybe the safety organizations here in Thailand can address child car seats after addressing children on motorcycles and in truck beds.

And on the tops of buses.

[solstan]

614 children younger than 15 died in accidents

101 were inside a car.

So, 513 were not inside a car.

I think motorcycles are the main problem here. I often see whole families on one motorcycle, with the babies squeezed between the adults.

If not dead on site but rather after arriving at the hospital it is not counted as a car/motorcycle accident .... at least thats what it has been earlier and that makes the numbers "low".

Inside a car, outside of the pickup or on or even driving the motorbike - yepp, weve seen it all

[DrTuner]

Sure, invest in a car seat and leave it somewhere to rot because you're too lazy to get the toddler bound in it. I'm the only one I know out of around a dozen families with young kids who actually always puts the kid in the seat. Some have a seat, but never use it as the kid protested.

[tangcoral]

Few years back, when my newborn was going home for the first time.

I got the most evil stare from the 2 infant ward nurses as if I was out of my mind when I insisted that the newborn be put in the infant seat.

As if I was out of my mind to put such a small child in a car seat, they adamantly told me that the baby needs to be in mothers lap. The evil stare continued till I pulled out of the hospital driveway. Mind you these were infant ward nurses in major hospital in bangkok!

If it doesn't start there where can it?!

[tangcoral]

In my extended family, the child seat is on mommys lap in front of the passenger airbag.

They justify it by saying its hundred times safer than on a motorbike.

But to give thais some credit not too long ago in the US while I was growing up (70's), car seats were rare so I got to sit shotgun.

Even up until the mid 80's the mexicans in Los Angeles would pile 10 people in the truck beds. No law said they couldn't.

Motocycle helmet law wasnt in place till the early 90's, rarely you saw any harley riders with one.

The laws here in regards to this aren't so primitive after all.

Edited April 11, 2014 by tangcoral

[Torrens54]

614 children younger than 15 died in accidents

101 were inside a car.

So, 513 were not inside a car.

I think motorcycles are the main problem here. I often see whole families on one motorcycle, with the babies squeezed between the adults.

Not to mention those kids and/or adults who pile into the back of Utes, no seats, let alone seat-belts. Sheer Lunacy!

[thailandbeachisland]

Born stupid they will also die stupid.

[Jim walker]

And what are our brave law enforcers going to do with the family of 6 out for a run on the motorbike, with no child restraints this is the UK regulations for child restraints / seats

Type of seat

Weight

Rear-facing baby seats

Babies up to 13kg

Forward or rear-facing baby seats

Children from 9 to 18kg

Forward-facing child car seats (booster seats)

Children from 15 to 25kg

Booster cushions

Children over 22kg

Only EU-approved child car seats can be used in the UK. These have a label showing a capital ‘E’ in a circle.

Similar regulation would be well overdue here in Thailand to show the rest of the world that Thais care for their children, and I don’t think that they are so poor they can’t afford a child seat, they always manage to afford new mobiles and whisky, just a case of getting priorities in the proper order.

[bristolgeoff]

just like wearing helmets on bikes,a car seat is never going to happen.every day you see on the roads no helmets or car seats for kids now

[Skint]

It would help if they made the seat belts a little longer and fitted ISO fix to all vehicles.

There are a lot of vids being passed round social media about car seats in Thailand so the message is getting there