Every time I see a child who travels loose in a car or who is not properly insured in a restraint system, I think that there are never enough campaigns to raise public awareness. "It depends on you. Always Protected, ”is the motto of a campaign for the safety of children in the car initiated by the Community of Madrid.
The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure and Health have initiated this communication campaign aimed at informing and about the correct use of safety belts and other homologated restraint systems when traveling with children, taking into account the weight and age of minors.
If I had to put a paste to this work, I would say that among the recommendations included In the information leaflets there is an error that can lead to confusion, as I explain below.
The campaign “It depends on you. Always Protected ”in Madrid
This initiative, which will be disseminated through health centers in the region, aims to be a useful and effective method for parents to know that using these safety devices correctly can reduce child mortality in the event of an accident.
For the campaign, informative brochures have been created explaining the current regulations on child safety for vehicles with nine seats or less and on how to correctly position the types of chairs according to the groups.
The Ministry has edited 200,000 brochures that will be delivered to parents that attend the Pediatric consultations of the health centers of the Madrid region, and 1,000 posters, which will be placed in those Primary Care centers.
The brochures try to guide parents on how chairs should be placed correctly and, through images, summarize their correct use.
On the regulations, the information distinguishes between how children under 12 years of age should travel, who do not reach 135 cm in height, both in the front and rear seats, and how they should do so if they exceed that height. In both cases they should always use some security system or clamping device to avoid damage in case of accident.
Error in the campaign "It depends on you. Always protected ”
As I commented in the introduction, there is an error regarding one of the recommendations, since the brochure states that “By taxi, we are the parents who are obliged to bring the appropriate seat for our child“.
Actually, as we saw, the regulations do not require children under 135 cm to travel in an SRI in the taxi, provided that it is circulated in urban traffic or in urban areas of large cities and provided that children occupy the rear seats.
Our colleague Josep Camós, from the road safety blog Circula Seguros, confirms that the national regulations apply equally in Madrid, and that the only case in which parents would be obliged to take the SRI with them is on interurban routes, that is, if It leaves a population.
Although it is also true that, unlike what the norm says, the Spanish Association of Pediatrics recommends that these children always travel in an SRI, also in the situations described, so it does not hurt that, effectively, parents take the SRI if we anticipate a taxi ride in advance. Although rather, there should be facilities for that these systems were available on demand when we ordered a taxi.
In any case, I think the campaign “Depends on you would have been better than at this point. Always protected ”will speak of“ recommendation ”rather than“ obligation ”, which is not correct, at least until the regulations do not change (that any change in this direction would not hurt), or that they would have specified that it is only mandatory in intercity routes.
Data on childhood accidents
Apart from this detail that has caught my attention, the brochure includes some data on children's accidents in the car, which although it sounds very hard, it is precisely if we face those figures when we can most notice the importance of the correct use of SRIs:
- 40% of children killed in an accident did not use any restraint system.
- In Spain there are many children who drive without protection: 10% do not use any device and 18% use it incorrectly.
- On short journeys, parents lower our guard more, especially when going home to school.
- Every 4 days a child dies in a traffic accident.
- The use of child restraint systems reduces fatal injuries by 40%, and the possibility of serious injuries by 70%.
- By coach, children can wear safety belts, provided they adapt to their height and weight.
- Children should NEVER travel in arms.
In short, they are topics that we have been commenting on the blog frequently, but we do not get tired of remembering, as it does the campaign for the safety of children in the car “It depends on you. Always protected ”, that the use of an adequate security system for the child to travel by car is essential and saves lives. And even if it isn't, shouldn't it be mandatory in all circumstances?
Official Site | Madrid.org
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