Parents Urged to Use Car Seats After 6-Year-old Thrown from Window to His Death

Parents in Thailand are being urged authorities to equip their vehicles with child car seats or booster seats after a six-year-old boy was thrown from a pickup truck on an elevated expressway and died.

The pickup the boy was riding in collided with a guard rail sending the 6-year-old boy flying out the open window to his death 30 meters below. After the tragic incident Mahidol University’s National Institute for Child and Family Development director Dr Adisak Plitponkarnpim lead calls for parents to obtain child car seats for their children.

Dr. Adisak, told the Bangkok Post that despite the fact that children under the age of six must wear a child seat-belt or use a safety seat, most parents ignore the requirement. When a vehicle travelling at 80-100 km/h suddenly has to brake, objects and people inside will lunge forward at the same speed, he said.

Regular seat-belts, however, are not appropriate for young children, and no car should be considered or advertised as “family” vehicles unless they are equipped with child passenger car seats, according to Dr. Adisak.

Automakers should be held accountable if they fail to inform customers that their vehicles lack recommended safety features while still marketing them as “family” vehicles. That could be considered false advertising, he said.

Dr. Adisak also requested that consumer protection authorities investigate the marketing claims of family cars to see if they are accurate.

Child safety seats should be strapped into the front passenger seat of pickup trucks with the airbag turned off first to prevent them from inflating incorrectly due to the change in arrangement and causing impact injuries.

“The child safety seat law is intended to protect everyone’s safety. However, the seats should not be expensive for car owners.

“The government should reduce import taxes on child safety seats to make them affordable for all families,” Dr. Adisak said.

Child Car Seats Mandatory in Thailand

The use of child car seats or less expensive car seat cushions for young children became mandatory by the Land Traffic Act on September 5, 2022 in Thailand. Children under the age of six must be restrained in a car seat or a special seat in a moving vehicle, according to Section 123 of the law.

The national police chief will issue a specific regulation outlining the details. Children who cannot be fastened to a seat due to health or physical reasons are exempt from the law.

Mr. Nikorn Chamnog, deputy chairman of the House committee that examined changes to the Land Traffic Act, stated that car seats are expensive, costing more than 10,000 baht each. As a result, the amended law permits the use of less expensive seat cushions costing 600-700 baht each.

According to Mr Nikorn, chairman of the World Health Organization’s Asia-Pacific Regional Network on Road Safety, the cushion allows the seat occupant to sit high enough for fastening with effective restraint.

The House committee investigated the mandatory implementation of car seats in the Philippines and Malaysia, discovering that the requirement proved chaotic and difficult in the early stages, owing primarily to the high cost of car seats.

Motorists will need time to adjust, according to Mr. Nikorn, so police should be lenient with compliance and issue warnings at first rather than taking more serious action during the early phase of enforcement after September 5.

At the same time, a campaign should be launched to educate people about the measure and the steps that must be taken.

Mr Nikorn also suggested that the government consider lowering the import tax on car seats while encouraging local production.