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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-9.html)

Hey RKAP01..The first and foremost problem was convincing him that he should be sitting alone at the back. (Which I tell you is a real tough Job).
The other Issue is that it doesn't look comfortable when he goes to sleep. I don't know how sort this. Any suggestions?

while the video is showing utter stupidity, I don't think the girl is controlling anything at all. Her dad is directing the bike. And I have to say, the have immense faith in each other :Frustrati

Oh, that going to be an issue since I have to have 2 child seats. Should I be concerened about the curtain air bags? Any research on this? looks like i have to rule out i20 from my list!!

you dont have to rule out the i20 for this reason. you can buy the crdi which doesnt come with 6 airbags (or the sunroof)
there are other reasons to rule it out though. check the thread for a rattled year of ownership in tbhp. one of the pages has a sheet of users that have problems with steering rattle. scarier is the fact that hyundai do seem able (willing?) to fix this issue. :Frustrati sorry for the OT!

at the risk of repetition, does someone have any info on child helmets (ISI approved) for bike use?

I went ahead and checked the research done on this topic. Side curtain airbags are ok it looks like as per latest research.

HowStuffWorks "Benefits of Side Curtain Airbags"

Side Curtain Airbags - Unsafe for kids? - Car Seat.Org - Carseat, Vehicle & Child Passenger Safety Forums

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA - USA) has done a lot of research on this, earlier models used to have different kind of side airbags which posed the risk of injury to small kids. Side curtain airbags deployment is is less force intrusive and considered to offer much better safety.

Selfdrive, thanks for the point though it leads to :OT. I have been following all the i20 threads here and surely seen the above. Also I have noticed that the those who bought it in 2010 does not feel this as much as an issue. Steering is not rattling now and weighing up as the speed increases is what I hear from latest ownership reports. Also, CRDI costs way more than what I want to spend for a car!!

Thanks

\\hkp

There is absolutely no need to rule out any car just because it has curtain airbags. Also read your car seat manual carefully. If it states that you are not to install it next to a curtain airbag then you cant, and would have to either get a different car or change your car seat.

Getting your child to sit alone at the back is a herculine task indeed. A little bit of crying thrown in with a dash of tantrums for a couple of weeks and you should be good to go after the initial hiccups. Couple of things you can do to ease up the situation.
1. If you have rear tv screens you could put something on for your child to watch.
2. Make sure they have their favourite toy with them.
3. Give them some activity to keep them busy.
4. If you allow eating in the car, then a couple of munchies could also do the trick.
5. This one from experience, turn up the stereo to some nursery rhymes or kids movie songs like lion king for example.
6. Play a counting game for e.g how many autorickshaws or bikes can you count (if you are alone with your child, keep your eyes on the road while driving)
Thats all that i can think of right now. Feel free to add a few more you know of.

@car.karthik if your car seat has a recline adjustment you could recline the seat so its more comfortable when your child goes to sleep in it. Ours does recline but only marginally. But even this slight recline makes it a lot more comfortable for napping.

One point I can think of is to ensure they stay well hydrated, even if there is a necessity for regular loo breaks :)

Isnt it ironical that, you hear most of the time that children don't get harmed in accidents while reading newspapers.;)

On the other hand, being a surgeon I see lot of children and adults involved in road traffic accidents. Almost 90% of these fatalities are avoidable if road safety rules are obeyed! When i practice overseas, I see a lot of high speed accident victims; the injuries are less grim and non fatal. The ones which die almost always have broken some road safety rule: like not wearing a seat belt or helmet and so on


Well said. First two weeks are the toughest! They settle in quite well and a few months later will not sit otherwise. They have a sense of ownership for their seat!

Laws now require helmets in many areas in the world. That is because medical research shows that a bicycle helmet can prevent up to 85% of cyclists' head injuries. More than 700 bicycle riders are killed in the U.S. every year, almost all in collisions with cars, and 75% of them die of head injuries. Many thousands more suffer less severe but still debilitating injuries that are far worse than the physical pain of scraped skin or even broken bones.

However, in India, there are no statistics; and no one encourages children to wear helmets. I had brought helmets from overseas, but my children stopped wearing helmets as no one else in the campus wore them.

However, its strange to find that helmets are worn by all children who are receiving training for skating. Same helmets are also used for cycling! And these are easily available from shops which sell skates!

Another question: Should we encourage our children to use a cycle on Indian roads?

Before you got married, you might have tried to buy the hippest, fastest, and most expensive car that you could afford. When you have kids, or if you are expecting a baby, your priorities will hopefully change a little and you will look for the car that is the safest for your family. Even if you could afford these, convertible or a two seater sport's car is out.


When looking for a new car for your family, in addition to good rollover ratings and crash test results (available information in fine print, if you try hard enough), you should look for a car with the latest safety features, which can include:

• LATCH to make it easier to install a car seat
• a backup aid, such as a rear view camera/video screen or backup sensor so that you don't roll over your child when backing out of a parking space or your driveway
• a window lock and child safety locks so that kids can't open the car's windows or doors on their own
• antilock brakes (ABS)
• electronic stability control (ESC)
• adjustable rear shoulder seat belts
• a tire pressure monitoring system to let you know if a tire is underinflated, which might lead to a blowout
• daytime running lights to make you more visible to oncoming cars
• a built-in car seat
• a lap and shoulder seat belt in the middle of the back seat (some car's only have a lap belt in the center seat)
• push-pull power window switches, which can make it less likely that a child accidently closes a window on himself, which unfortunately causes many injuries and deaths
• a trunk release mechanism inside the truck so that kids can escape from the trunk if they get trapped inside
• manual air bag on/off switches or an occupant sensor system so that air bags don't hurt younger children

Now all these are good if you have lots of money. If you dont, then there are a few in the above list which are almost mandatory. Child seat fixtures are a must. Child and window locks are required.

In addition to finding a safe car, you should look for a car that is practical for your family. That might mean an SUV or mini-van if you have three or more kids that need to sit in the back seat or need a lot of cargo room.
If buying a used car, keep in mind that many cars built before September 2002 don't have LATCH and may not have many of these other newer safety features. An in India, cars built in 2011 will not have a LATCH system!


What about a TV and DVD player? Although nice to have for long trips in the car, does your child really need to watch more TV every day? IF so, these should be only for rear seat occupants.

There are lot of inquiries from prospective travelers on travel forums regarding availability of child seats in rental cars for use in India. I am not sure whether these are available for rental for visitors. If any one does know - kindly post

It's similar to training for using car seat. Kids will learn to play other real games or relax and sleep than stare at a 7 inch monitor shaking and vibrating at each bump.

for foreign travelers the best thing to do would be to fly with the seat and use it in the vehicle here. At the least they can use the existing seat belts. I have never seen any child seat for hire in India with rental cars.

Children and pets too! I've seen quite a few cases where people left their pets in the car and then strolled off, usually after leaving one window rolled about one-third down.

This can be fatal for dogs, especially the pedigree breeds that are popular in India.

Things are the same for any living being. Cars in summers in India get very hot and the temperatures can be as high as 70 degrees Celcius, which is not compatible with life for long, especially for children and small pets.
Please do not leave them in the car, even for a minute as sometimes just a minute can last for 10 minutes. Hyperthermia, when it sets in is difficult to control!