Today the Child Safety Day is held for the 12th year in a row in Sweden. This event is an initiative of the Swedish National Society for Road Safety (NTF) and Volvo Cars insurance company Volvia with the purpose to focus on the importance of rear-facing travels and to educate about child safety on the roads, and it is much needed. Despite many years of education the latest research show that almost 25% of all children in Sweden between the age of 2-4 years are not sitting rear-facing in the car despite it is 5 times safer.
At Axkid we advocate rear-facing for as long as possible. Research shows that children travelling rear-facing are 5 times more protected upon impact compared to forward-facing children. This is because a rear-facing seat protects the neck and scull much better and distributes the crash-forces more evenly upon impact. We therefore really want to help spread the word about Child Saftey Day.
The theme of this day is to do different activities facing backward to help preschools, playfully, address road safety and child safety in the car. The highlight of the day is the traditional backward march – a manifestation where preschool children walk backward to alert parents about their right to travel safely.
This year, 44.000 preschool children participate in the backward march. Since the first march, more than 450,000 preschoolers have been marching backward for their right to sit safely in the car and for as long as possible. By actively involving children into their right for safety travels, parents become more and more aware of the importance of rear-facing and child safety.
In connection with Child Safety Day, Volvo’s insurance company, Volvia, also releases its annual survey. This year’s survey, we see a worrying trend with a decreasing number of Swedish children traveling rearward, as many as 25% of all children are also turned too early into a forward-facing car seat; although children under five should still travel in a rear-facing.
Help us spread the word so we can turn around this trend.
Read the full report here (in Swedish):
Source:
Picture: Volvia
