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-   -   Child Safety, and SAFE driving on Indian Roads (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/road-safety/96036-child-safety-safe-driving-indian-roads-5.html)

Never leave children alone in vehicles

On a typical hot Indian summer day, the temperature inside a parked car can be 30 – 40 degrees Centigrade hotter than the outside temperature. That means on a 30-degree C day, the temperature inside the car could be as high as 70 degrees Centigrade.
75% of the temperature increase occurs within five minutes of closing the car.
Don’t think that by putting the windows down 5cm will help either because with an outside temperature of 30 degrees C, it will only cause a slight decrease in the temperature inside the car.
Heat stress, dehydration, heat stoke and death are all possible outcomes of leaving a child unattended in a motor vehicle. Children do not tolerate the heat as well as adults. Their bodies generate more heat relative to their size than adults do. They also lose more fluids because they have a greater proportion of skin surface in relation to their size.
On a hot day in a car, ensure children are not overheating and have adequate fluid intake.
Please do not leave children alone in motor vehicles. Even if you only need to run a short errand, take the children with you
Leaving a child in a car can be extremely dangerous, so NEVER leave children alone in a car.

When I went to my native place some time back, I had to accomodate my parents also on the return trip because they missed the train. Four adults and a child seat in an Alto wasn't very encouraging, so my parents suggested removing the child seat. I was like "no way - either we all travel with the child-seat and everyone belted, or you wait for the next train". I had my way finally, though I had to hear my uncle remark "you people are trying to make your children detached and independant from parents, USA style". Another flimsy reason for not using child seat, I must confess!

Condition of the roads is much better these days; so are the cars. Speed has become a major component in the cog wheel of a road system, which is already compromised because of lack of rules and driving etiquette. Child seat is a must as children are flail and thus do worse in accidents!

These links are a wonderful way to know that safety in a moving vehicle is so important for the developed countries.


CASPER: Child Advanced Safety Project for European Roads — CASPER

Development of the 3YO FE Child Model — CASPER

EPOCh - Enabling Protection for Older Children

COVER - Coordination of Vehicle and Road Safety Initiatives

THORAX - Thoracic injury assessment for improved vehicle safety

http://www.casper-project.eu/child%2...ite/index2.htm


It also denotes the amount of research and finances which go in research to streamline and keep improving the safety features in vehicles including finding new ways to enhance the safety of passengers including children.
How much does Indian Government spends in these type of research?

Excellent thread. I for one am paranoid about car safety. My son of 4 years always travels in a car seat. We now make him sit on a booster seat no matter what.

I strongly recommend being safe than sorry

As per one of our member wildon, even Hyundai i20 has ISOFIX. Unfortunately, the car seat he bought did not ISOFIX anchorage points. So the combination failed and he resorted to using seat belts.

Yes you are right a friend of mine also said that the i20 does indeed have isofix points.
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I have to mention something, although it is one of those small things.

When I was in Singapore I have seen many cars having stickers like
"child on-board", "infant on-board". This I believe is also one good addition, along with the child seats and seat belts. So the cars behind you notice this.
Sadly it can work only when the driver behind is a literate.lol:
Sadly the all the basic safe driving techniques which ought to be taught in the driving school, which they do in many countries, are missing in INDIA.

I got my Swift back after a servicing and an interior cleaning.
My rear seats have a seat cover, so the lock that holds the seat upright is covered by the fabric.

Once the rear seats are folded down, it sometimes is a bit of a pain to get them locked properly in the upright position. The tiny straps that Maruti provides on the top of the seat does not make matters any easier. I have noticed that shortcuts are sometimes taken at the shop, and if it is hrad to get both of the locks engaged, they send out the car with only one lock holding the rear seat upright.

So, all I would suggest is, before putting your baby seat, take a second or two, and just check that both the locks are engaged. It may avoid a nasty surprise later on.

Yes, the facelifted Fabia doesn't have an ISOFIX provision, and also most of the child seats sold in India too don't have ISOFIX.
Don't know whether manufacturers have to pay a royalty for using the design.

Yep most child seats sold in india dont have isofix, so if you need the feature make sure to check that your child seat supports it before buying. Have seen isofix compatible child seats at mothercare. And if i am not mistaken the one we have is isofix compatible. Will confirm on this once back in pune.

What i have noticed is that cars in india that are cbu's or are exported to foreign markets usually have isofix anchorage points. Like pre face lift fabia, kizashi, i20 etc.

As a child specialist doctor concerned about child safety, I salute your team for this informative article.
I tear my hairs when I sometimes see drivers having infants in their laps (!) while driving. what a mockery of child safety!

I got the child car seat today - had a few laughs as I dont have a car yet! Now the challenging part will be to put my foot down in the future to ensure the car seat isnt removed in case of additional passengers. Perhaps I should not show the manual to anyone :D
Jokes apart, I guess when the crunch time comes, a simple statement should do the job.
As for the rules, are children counted as individual passengers? I know the rule isnt strictly enforced, but if it ever will be, they should also be considered as separate passengers regardless of age.
Great to know we have child specialists reading this, I am sure the thread starter and the rest of us will welcome your recommendations

While most of us are talking here about the child seats, knowing the pathetic situation about the driving discipline on Indian roads (which includes range from the bus/truck/auto rikshaw drivers to the BMW owners), I feel the need of the hour is to educate ourselves first and then the children about some basic rules, and the need to stick to them for our own good.
The number of precious lives lost on Indian roads is just too high and increasing rapidly. I have lost three of my friends in different road accidents. I feel therefore that the topic of this thread needs to be viewed from a larger perspective.

@selfdrive way to go buddy. You got the child seat even before the car. Be firm and put your foot down, the child seat isnt going to be removed period. Our child seat is fixed permanently and is only removed for a clean up. Once in a while though i remove it and re-fit it just to make sure everything is fit snug.
@psp62in definately agree with you. We need to focus on driving education here in india. Most of us get our DL by just going straight taking a U-turn and coming back to where we started. That is the pathetic standard we have. What happened to parallel parking, going up and down a slope, etc etc. Another thing is the lack of driving etiquette, more drivers practising driving etiquette the more enjoyable road tavel is going to be. No place better to spread this awareness than the very passionate T-bhp. Cheers to us.