The other day I was picking up my children from school and saw a very nasty incident. A friend was doing his turn at school runs and was driving away when his daughter fell out of the car. He was driving a twin cab and had put all the children in back without an adult there. It turns out they were playing and his daughter got pushed. She cracked her wrist. Saw her yesterday. She is fine.
About 100 metres down the road I saw another boy being taken home by his dad. He was standing with his torso outside the window (and I'm not kidding here) just taking in the air. His dad did not do anything. I prayed for no bumps or swerving of the car. I think he is fine since we did not hear of any funeral….
I recall back in 2004 I was travelling from Lilongwe with my family and we had an accident. A bad one. I thank God that we had both children in their car seats. Without them we would have been telling a different story.
In Malawi, Traffic Police do not ask you to secure your children in the car and I am not aware of any of any law or by laws to enforce child safety. I have observed that most parents do not enforce safety features despite what they may have seen on digital satellite or seen the few others do. I have also known of child injuries from road accidents that would have been prevented simply by having them wear their belts or investing in car seats.
So what is the best way to raise awareness for child safety on the road?
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