On My Mind

Car seat belts, child seats: Seeing blind spots only when someone dies

In Singapore, passengers under the height of 1.35m must be secured using child restraints or booster seats when in a vehicle. PHOTO: ST FILE
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If people think it’s necessary for drivers to wear seat belts, why do they think the laws of the land – and of physics – suddenly change just centimetres away in the same vehicle? Do the non-driver seat areas suddenly turn into a lawless Wild West, or a twilight zone with low gravity where passengers can float gently to safety?

Also, netizens were stirred up about a child seat not being used in a recent case where a baby died after being flung out of her mother’s hands in a car. But when it comes to adults not using seat belts, why do people think their own vulnerable bodies will be suddenly superhumanly impervious to crash forces?

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