Booster Seats for Children

[pjay]

When I was in the UK I noticed that my brother had installed a booster seat in his car , for his grandson. Although the little boy only travels once a month in the car , it is now law and there is a fine if you have a child in the car without one of these seats.
It would appear that here in Basilicata, it is not the law or they disregard it. I see young babies in the front seat on mum's knee. Toddlers in between the front seats standing up. Kids kneeling up looking through the rear window. I also see young children on mopeds (without a helmet) standing up in front of mum or dad.
I was with my friend and her 4 year old daughter, and asked why she was not wearing a seat belt, her reply was " there are no carabineiri on this stretch of road ". They absolutely adore this child but think nothing of her being in the car without a belt, and not even sitting at all times. I tried to explain to her that it is not for the police that she needs a seat belt but for her own safety.
It is amazing that the children are so loved / spoilt to distraction yet they do not try and protect them. I am not sure if this is the case in the rest of Italy?

[Gala Placidia]

I think that the law exists but nobody cares. This would justify the comment about the "carabinieri". I remember seeing an article on one of the Lucca papers on this subject and it basically said that people were breaking the law without realising the consequences, particularly the danger for the children involved.

[Angie and Robert]

This is a very interesting point pjay, I have often wondered that with the apparent care Italians lavish on their children, car safety is often ignored. I am reading a book by Beppe Severgnini called La Bella Figura in which he discusses this anomaly. He says "Many Italian parents show a curious and a mind-boggling faith in divine Providence" hence the baby on mamas knee, seat belts not used in back seats.
What is also interesting is that this attitude also seems to have been adopted by some English people , a sort of defiance, a dangerous "fitting in" with their Italian neighbours perhaps?
A

[AllanMason]

This sort of idiocy is not confined to Basilicata; it's seen everywhere in Italy. I don't know if Catholic Italians have a similarly concise expression for the underlying attitude, but in Islamic lands the term is insha'Allah.

I don't know about you, pjay, but I'd refuse to ride in a car with an unrestrained four year-old on the seat behind me. Leaving aside questions raised about the general intelligence and driving nous of parents who demonstrate such idiocy, in any frontal collision, the child will become a projectile weighing at least 25 kg launched in the direction of the front seats at the speed the car was travelling before the collision. Getting hit in your head by a child's head travelling at even 50kph is pretty likely to ruin the day for both of you.

Allan

[alan h]

Originally Posted by AllanMason

........... Getting hit in your head by a child's head travelling at even 50kph is pretty likely to ruin the day for both of you.

Allan

Actually - its likely to end your days, rather than ruin them.


.

[Noma]

It would appear that here in Basilicata, it is not the law or they disregard it.

It's the law in all of Italy.

Bolster seats are mandatory for children under age 12 and less than 1.5 meters tall.

Kids younger than 3 can avoid sitting in a baby seat if they are in the back seat with a person at least 16 years old.

[Oneto15]

Moved to : Italiauncovered.co.uk

[The Smiths in Puglia]

This is absolutely normal behaviour in Puglia too - kids never wear seat belts, entire families ride on mopeds etc. etc. In fact, it`s not just confined to car safety - we went to a pig roast a year or so ago and all the kids (many were toddlers) were running riot in front of an unprotected open fire and no-one batted an eyelid! In fact, I`d go further and say that the whole concept of health and safety hasn`t really caught on at all yet - wasn`t there a recent discussion about Italy`s poor record of safety at work? I think this attitude extends to very many aspects of life not just road safety. It is a strange anomaly though that kids are so loved and yet their safety is so blatently disregarded.

[Geotherm]

I think this article says it all about the implications of children in cars. Very sad for the parents, but even worse for the child.
Toddler dies in car crash after being put in the front seat without a proper belt - Telegraph

[pjay]

AllamMason is perfectly correct . I should indeed refuse to travel with my friend if her little girl is not strapped in. It is so very difficult to try and explain to them, but it brings to mind the advert on British TV , where the lady is transporting her children to school, and the boy in the back seat not wearing a belt. His mother is killed when she brakes suddenly and the boy hits her.Maybe they should show this on Italian TV. Is it only me who remembers everytime I get in the car "CLUNK-CLICK-EVERY-TRIP. Sir Jimmy Saville really brainwashed us all. Thank Goodness.