TRNC Road Safety, Children and Seat Belts.

By Chris Elliott…

Recently I had UK visitors spending a week with me, including a 3-year-old child,  but I had cause for concern.

They were arriving at Larnaca and I needed to arrange for them to be collected but was unable to locate a taxi that would collect them with a child seat fitted. My solution was to obtain a child seat and have the transfer agent fit this for the collection and return journeys and after that, I used the child seat when taking my family to various locations.

Why should we have a child seat fitted for their protection?

I can recall a year or so ago driving west onto the Pia Bella Roundabout one evening when a woman driving a white Mercedes or BMW dashed across in front of me from the left causing me to brake hard.

So no damage done you may say but in the other vehicle in the back offside seat was a boy with his head through the half open window and had there been a collision he may well have been decapitated.

I have visited the TKOD Children’s Road Safety Training Centre in Lefkosia a couple of times (click here and click here) and remember saying to one of the staff that one way of impressing on the public for the need of children being strapped in would perhaps be for the police to publish in the press that they will be carrying out spot checks at schools and will give mandatory irrevocable fines on anyone not looking after their child’s safety.

Children are very excitable and will take advantage of their parents in vehicles but at the end of the day, it is the responsibility of the parent to obey the law and ensure their children are protected from harm.

TKOD Children’s Road Safety Training Centre