Children on board

I feel it is time to give greater attention to child safety. Thousands of children travel to school unaccompanied by their parents, often in red mini-vans.

Nothing wrong with that, of course. Malta's increasingly congested roads could well do with smaller modes of public transport. But why aren't schoolchildren made to wear seat-belts? Why is it compulsory for me to wear a seat-belt but not for my five-year old in the back when she is being taken to school?

Why is my safety more important than hers? Why does the law protect me and not her as well? Why are we first waiting for a tragedy to happen before taking action?

Travelling by car in Malta is probably the most dangerous thing most of us do, not because of the potholes we all hate but because of our abysmal driving standards and the fact that the young, and young men particularly, just drive too fast.

Until the situation improves (and our road safety campaigns have made no dent in this problem at all as yet!), the best thing you can do is belt up.

The majority of parents simply ignore this basic safety rule when they have children with them in cars. They belt themselves in front but their children are left free in the back. Children are not belted up because it is not yet compulsory to wear a seat-belt in the back seat.

I know that children do not like to wear seat-belts and would do anything to unstrap themselves but this is one place where parents would need to exercise greater discipline.

We can move mountains if, in tackling these and other matters, we were to apply the same determination that we show to make sure our children get through the Matsec exams.

It is, after all, only common sense to ensure that children wear seat-belts as well when they are with us in cars.

And the authorities need to more than nudge us along in this respect. It is not the first time, nor the last, we hear of kids being injured in cars, sometimes even in cases where cars are not travelling at excessive speed. A bump from behind, even when travelling at a mere 20 miles an hour, is enough to send your child flying.

We all need to wear seat-belts in our cars, however uncomfortable and uncool it may be. And since most are still not ensuring that children wear seat-belts too, we need to have the force of law to make this happen. This would, of course, need to be done in school transport as well.

Let us have European standards of safety forced upon us, whether it is on a building site, in your own home or travelling around by car.

For all our desperate pursuit of money and exam results, our health and our safety and that of our kids in particular should be our first concern. As it isn't as yet, we need the government to impose it on us.

In the meantime, love your kids as much as you love yourself and belt them up when they are with you in your car.