Senate OKs bill for safer child travel

The Senate on Monday passed on third and final reading a measure that would give protection to infants and young children from deaths and serious injuries arising from road crashes and other traffic-related incidents.

Senate Bill 1971 or “An Act Providing for the Special Protection of Child Passengers in Motor Vehicles and Providing Appropriations Thereof” got the unanimous vote of 20 senators.

Once signed into law, the bill would make traveling for children safer.

Senator JV Ejercito, author and sponsor of the said measure, said the bill mandates drivers of private vehicles “to secure a child, 12 years old and below, in a child restraint system while transporting a child on a road, street or highway.”

Ejercito also chairs the Subcommittee on Special Protection for Child Passengers under the Senate Committee on Public Services.

He explained that a child restraint system is  “a device capable of accommodating a child occupant in a sitting or supine position designed to diminish the risk of injury in the event of a collision or of abrupt deceleration of the vehicle by limiting the mobility of the child’s body.”

Ejercito also noted that children, 12 years old and below, will be “prohibited from sitting at the front seat of the vehicles, unless the child is at least 150 centimeters or 56 inches in height and capable to properly fit in the regular seat belt in the front seat, the measure stated.”

“The child restraint system shall be appropriate to the child’s age, height and weight and approved in accordance with safety standards for child restraint system,” he said.

The bill states that drivers are also prohibited from leaving them unattended inside the vehicles, the senator added.

Ejercito recalled that in July 2018, a two-year-old boy was left unattended for several hours inside a vehicle parked at Metrowalk, a famous commercial hub in Pasig City.

He noted that the video of the incident became viral in social media.

READ: Toddler left alone inside car in Pasig parking lot sparks outcry

“This act should not be acceptable as this might endanger the health and life of the child,” he said.

For the protection of children using public utility vehicles, the Department of Transportation is mandated to adopt safety measures and issue regulations for the safe and secure transport of children, the senator said. /ee