AAP Supports Child Safety Act, to Push for Minimum Requirements to Avoid Supplier-Centrism

The Automobile Association Philippines has thrown its support to the Child Safety in Motor Vehicle Act recently signed by President Rodrigo Duterte. As relayed by AAP Advocacies Manager Cynthia Reyes, club president Gus Lagman said that they are for Republic Act 11229, which Duterte signed on February 22. Back in 2017, AAP pushed for a similar proposal. However, what the club wants is that the law should state the minimum requirements to avoid the law being supplier-centric, Reyes clarified. According to the World Health Organization, some 500 children die in road crashes daily. Furthermore, the Fédéra­tion In­ter­na­tionale de l’Au­to­mo­bile (FIA) stated that among the coun­tries that have au­to­mo­bile as­so­ci­a­tions, Hong Kong, Ja­pan, Sin­ga­pore, and South Korea are the only coun­tries in Asia that have seat­belt and child re­straint laws. AAP pro­posed the Child Re­straint Bill of 2017 as a pre­ven­tive mea­sure to keep chil­dren safe when they are in­side mo­tor ve­hi­cles. Ba­si­cally, the Bill re­quires the driver of a mo­tor ve­hi­cle to pro­tect child pas­sen­gers while in­side a run­ning ve­hi­cle on any road via the use of a child re­straint sys­tem or child safety seat which is de­signed to pro­tect chil­dren from be­ing in­jured or killed should a ve­hic­u­lar col­li­sion oc­cur.