KUALA LUMPUR: The enforcement of the Child Restraint System (CRS) or use of child safety seats for all private cars, effective Jan 1 next year, will take an educational approach and not punish those who fail to comply with it, according to Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Kamarudin Jaffar.
Emphasizing that the government was aware of and understood parents’ concerns over the enforcement of the CRS, he said the government was considering exempting large families from installing child safety seats in their vehicles due to space constraints.
“We are aware that families with lots of children will find it hard to fit four or five seats in the car. So large families which cannot install as many child seats as the number of children they have will be exempted. There will be flexibility in the implementation,” he said in an oral question-and-answer session at the Dewan Rakyat today.
Kamarudin said this when replying to a supplementary question by Cha Kee Chin (PH-Rasah) who wanted the government to consider the predicament of families with many children and a small vehicle.
Responding to Cha’s original question about the government’s justification for requiring all children below the height limit of 135cm to use the safety seat, Kamarudin said the seat was designed specifically to provide protection to children as they have a body that is still in the growing stage with the bone structure still not developed.
The use of the safety seat will allow the child’s body to withstand the impact of an accident more than using a seat belt.
“The height limit of 135cm is specified in the CRS rules because for children above this height they have a better body size to use the usual seat belt.
“This is because the three-point seat belts in vehicles are designed for adult passengers with a height of 135cm and above,” he said. - Bernama
