Thailand has now made using child car seats mandatory as a part of sweeping amendments to its Road Traffic Act 1979. The new legal guidelines, which additionally cowl street racing, are supposed to convey the rules updated and impose stricter punishments for breaking them.
Most pertinent on this story are the amendments to Section 123, which beforehand solely coated seat belt utilization (the regulation was amended in 2017 to implement rear seat belt utilization). Now, youngsters underneath six years of age might be required to be secured in both a child security seat or a “special seat for children,” with particulars of precisely what seats might be allowed to be introduced by the police commissioner.
The Land of Smiles has additionally raised the fine for non-compliance (each for seat belt and child seat utilization) from simply 500 baht (RM60) beforehand to 2,000 baht (RM250), though it gives an exception for kids who can’t be secured for well being or bodily causes. The new legal guidelines will take impact on September 5, 2022.
Nikorn Chamnog, deputy chairman of the House of Representatives committee scrutinising the amendments, stated the child seat regulation permits using cheaper “seat cushions” priced round 600 (RM80) to 700 baht (RM90), the Bangkok Post reported. He added this is because of the truth that correct child seats price greater than 10,000 baht (RM1,300), which is the going fee for a mid-range ISOFIX child seat in Malaysia.
These “seat cushions”, Nikorn stated, permit youngsters to take a seat excessive sufficient to be successfully secured utilizing the car’s built-in seat belt. This seemingly refers to booster seats which were designed to suit bigger youngsters, fairly than these flimsy makeshift “child seats” that aren’t really suited to use in automobiles.
Nikorn, who can be the chairman of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Asia-Pacific Regional Network on Road Safety, stated the committee studied child seat rules in Malaysia and Philippines and located that imposing the legal guidelines proved troublesome within the early phases as a result of “high price of car seats.”
He added that the police must be lenient at first and problem warnings fairly than taking critical motion, as motorists will want time to regulate. Nikorn additionally suggested the federal government to launch a marketing campaign to coach the general public and think about reducing the import tax for child seats whereas selling native manufacturing.
In Malaysia, using child security seats was made mandatory in January 2020 however the enforcement of the regulation – which was presupposed to kick off in July – was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In August that 12 months, we reported that it was due to start at the end of 2020, however we’ve checked with the Road Transport Department (JPJ) and located that the authority has but to start enforcement.
In any case, no one must be ready till officers to start out fining motorists earlier than they guarantee the security of their very own youngsters. (*5*) in stopping youngsters from experiencing violent forces in a collision, they usually don’t have to interrupt the financial institution – not when correct, ECE R44/04-certified seats could be had for effectively underneath RM200. Fine or no fine, you solely need the perfect to your family members, proper?
