Kids seated on adults' laps a violation of Seat Belt Law – LTO

The Land Transportation Office (LTO) warned the public that children 6 years old and younger were not allowed to sit on the laps of adults seated in the front of a vehicle under the Seat Belt Law.

According to data from the LTO, 128,000 adults were flagged for having young children seated on their laps, making it the number one form of violation of the Seat Belt Law.

Under the Republic Act 11229 or the Child Safety in Motor Vehicle Act signed into law by President Rodrigo Duterte last year, children 12 years old and below would not be allowed on the front seat of a vehicle. 

The law also required children shorter than 4 feet and 11 inches to be placed under a child restraint system in the backseat of the car.

“Marami ng mga studies na ginawa diyan. Mas marami pa ang na-injure [at] namatay na mga bata na nakasakay sa sasakyan kaysa ‘yung mga sakit,” LTO Law Enforcement Deputy Director Roberto Valera said in a 24 Oras report by Saleema Refran on Monday.

The World Health Organization said that the forces involved in the crash a vehicle moving at 60 kilometers per hour was equivalent to a fall off a four-story building.

The injuries involved in such a crash would be devastating to a child.

Even the mere deployment of a front airbag could be lethal on children.

“Ang katawan ng bata, hindi pa ‘yan fully developed para maprotektahan ‘yung buto niya, ‘yung ulo niya, ‘yung brain niya,” Imagine Law Director Sophia San Luis explained.

The Implementing Rules and Regulations for Republic Act 11229 was signed in December 2019. The concerned agencies had a year to implement the law. — Julia Mari Ornedo/DVM, GMA News