Here is Nevi on our day trip the other day. Comfy and safe in her booster seat that we brought with us from home. Am I ever glad we did bring it. First, because driving in a car here is like taking your life in your hands every time you hit the road. Accidents are as common as your morning cup of coffee. Just recently in April of this year, Malaysia decided to make wearing seat belts a law....yup only six months ago. So, as you can imagine it has not really caught on yet. When you drive by cars, you see infants on their mothers laps in the front seat with no seat belt. You see children standing in between the two front seats. You see children hanging out open windows on the main roads. As you can tell by my tone...I am amazed. Seriously... unsafe. If I were to jump on any cause while living here- this would be it...Children need to be in car seats! I would create an organization that sought donated car seats, and then we would give and sell them for cheap...starting with brand new babies- infants being in the back seat strapped in...then toddlers...then kids at least in seat belts. Ok so maybe kids do not need to be eight years old and 80 pounds like in the US- but please how about at least kids under 5 in seats with seat belts????!!!! Then I would add to my cause- the education about children wearing helmets when on scooters and motorcycles. So often we see the parent with a helmet riding with their little one who has no helmet???!! Are there a shortage of kid's sized helmets? I understand needing to get to work or to school or to grandma's...but a bit of safety education and some cheap avenues to aquire the appropriate safety equiptment would be great! There are a few programs trying to encourage car seats... especially during Ramadan and Hari Raya (research says accidents increase during this time), but I have only read one ad in the newspaper taking about this program.
When Nevi is in our car, she is in her booster...any other car a seat belt...she thinks it is totally unfair now that she sees kids walking around in their cars while driving! "Poor Nevi...now get in your booster and buckle up!"
