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![Less than 0.1 percent of young children in the country ride in cars with adapted child safety seats. The Government is now planning to adopt laws to ensure children a safe journey. [File photo]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20120601/000cf1bdc9db113264ae0c.jpg "Less than 0.1 percent of young children in the country ride in cars with adapted child safety seats. The Government is now planning to adopt laws to ensure children a safe journey. [File photo]")
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| Less than 0.1 percent of young children in the country ride in cars with adapted child safety seats. The Government is now planning to adopt laws to ensure children a safe journey. [File photo] |
June the 1st is the International Children's Day. In China, there is a worrying fact worth considering on this day. Less than 0.1 percent of young children in the country ride in cars with adapted child safety seats. The Government is now planning to adopt laws to ensure children a safe journey.
It's every parent's nightmare. A toddler falls from the car in the middle of rush hour. The driverless car was left to ram into a tree. Fortunately, the girl ended up safe and sound. But there seems to be no lesson learned. On the taxis of Beijing, kids continue to be put in such high danger. Free to move about, totally unrestrained.
Wang Haibin, taxi driver, said, "There is no such thing as 'child car seat' in any taxi in Beijing. A parent usually holds their kid in their arms when they take a taxi."
And car seats are missing in most private cars as well, even on such rainy days. Outside the kindergarten, parents pick up their children for what they believe is a safe journey home, but few are aware that the biggest danger lies inside their own cars.
"My child has grown up. It's safe enough to let her grandma hold her in her arms. If I pick her up by myself, I'll let her sit in the front, so that I can see her."
But the front seat of a car is the most dangerous place for a kid, even when held in an adult's arms.
Zhang Xiaolong, researcher, Tianjin Automotive Test Center, said, "When the car suddenly stops, the weight of the kid can increase by 30 times. It's impossible for an adult to hold him."
The child could either become an airbag for his parent or fly out of the window like a bullet. In China, car accidents are the top killer of kids under 14. Every year, over 18 thousand children die in car accidents across the country. The death rate is 2.5 times higher than in European countries, and 2.6 times higher than in the US. A child car seat could lower the possibility of harm by 70% in car accidents, and chances of deaths and injury from 11 to 3 percent.
Many parents will be shopping for a Children's Day gift this year. Perhaps they should consider gifting their child safety. A seat like this costs no more than a new cell phone, but the small investment could save a child's life.
(CNTV June 1, 2012)
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