Peta Lee She-Mail
Ever dropped a pumpkin from a respectable height and watched it splatter into mushy pieces on concrete? That’s more or less what happens to babies and toddlers who aren’t strapped into car seats during an accident. “They look just like smashed pumpkins,” says Maxine Hall, general manager of Durban’s Amahosp Medical Rescue Services. “What’s worse is that they’re often flung into the bushes or far from the scene of the accident and by the time someone finds them, after treating the obvious victims of a car wreck, it’s usually too late. They’re lighter than adults so they travel much faster. And there are all sorts of nooks and crannies for them to fall into. We’ve found them jammed under back seats, for instance.” Parents who drive around without strapping their children into carseats or into the seat belts in the rear of the car, should be hung, drawn and quartered. I see them all over the place. Reasonably intelligent-looking people, often in smart cars, with a three-year-old standing on the front seat, or an infant on mum’s lap in the front passenger seat, or a four-year-old standing on the back seat. Hall says it’s on a par with murder, and I agree. “The quickest way to kill a child is to do what these people are doing,” says Hall. The emergency services staff call babies on laps in the front passenger seats “portable air bags”. “It’s wonderful for the person who’s holding the baby,” says Hall. “He or she is protected from the impact of the accident by this tiny little creature who has a nice soft skull, and bones that are still unformed or not properly formed. The baby’s head is all nice and mushy after the accident, and his little arms and legs suddenly have at least three or four extra joints because the bones have broken so easily. Generally they look like tiny rag dolls.” It is one of the most irresponsible things a parent can do, and South Africans are guilty of it everywhere. All of the cars on the market today have seat belts. They’re there to be used and apart from that it’s the law. Minibuses are also major offenders in this respect. “We attend to plenty of minibus accidents, with 12, 14 or even 16 people inside,” says Hall. “We’ve yet to find a child who’s been strapped into one of these taxis.” And people who don’t have rear seat belts in their cars shouldn’t use this as an excuse to stand or seat their children in the front. They do not belong there. Says Hall: “In the back they don’t distract you while you’re driving, and if they really get out of hand, use a fly swatter or something to keep them in line.”
What does she do when she sees someone driving with unstrapped kids inside the car? “I try to run them off the road. I yell and scream like a banshee, and I give them a serious piece of my mind.” So now you know. If you love your kids, strap them in. If you don’t well, you have the option of killing them.