I AM glad to see a road-safety campaign being aired on television to encourage the use of crash helmets by children.

I am glad because I am sick and tired of the familiar sight these days of children riding pillion either without helmets or wearing only toy helmets.

In the safety-campaign advertisement, Sirim-approved children’s helmets have all the safety features to protect a child’s head, unlike toy helmets which are not designed to protect the head when a child falls or meets with an accident.

A child below the age of 7 who is riding pillion has a very high chance of sustaining head injuries in a fall.

These made-for-children helmets cost less than RM40 each. Whether these helmets are affordable or not is not the question.

Parents should not compromise the safety of their children.

Just the other day on my way to work, I saw a couple on a motorcycle riding slowly on the left side of the road.

I was aghast to see that in front of the rider was a child aged about 4, without any head protection, lying on the bike’s fuel tank.

The parents must have thought that it was safe for the child to be in that position as long as the machine was being ridden slowly.

But what the parents failed to realise is that the child would have been a perfect projectile, ready to be launched forward in the event of an emergency brake being applied.

If that happens, riding slowly or fast, the child would surely fly forward and suffer serious injuries to the head.

We all know that a motorcycle is the only mode of transport for some people, but they should always accord priority to safety.

MOHD FAIZAL ABDULLAH, Kuala Lumpur

Source: NST – November 17, 2008