October 21, 2011Dear SirDriving along East Broadway I signaled to change lanes. A driver slowed down and allowed me to move ahead of him. In this car a woman sat in the backseat holding a tiny infant in her lap and kissed his incredibly small fingers.As I continued on my way home a car with an amped stereo system drove closely behind me with a little girl around four-years-old standing on the backseat dancing. She poked her head out of the window sassing the lyrics to a Beyoncè song.I adore the boldness of children. They have no fear about public performances that often include displays of affection or discontentment. It is admirable to see them laugh, play and love unconditionally. But it is utterly disturbing to see them vulnerable.All too often, children ride as unsecured passengers in cars on Bermuda’s roads.Since the mid to late 1960s, new cars have been installed with seatbelts in America, Japan and Europe thanks to mandatory legislation. How many people today in Bermuda drive cars that predate 1960? In 2011 the existence of installed seatbelts in almost any vehicle cannot be argued.I remember riding with my grandmother in the early 1980s when heavy traffic and congestion had not yest made its prominent debut. When she had to brake suddenly her left arm instantly became a barrier to prevent my forehead from meeting the dashboard. This reflex response is affectionately known as the “instant seatbelt”. Grandma muscled with gravity a lot, until one day gravity won and I ended up with a big knot on my forehead. Even after the incident, we didn’t even think of wearing seatbelts. Honestly, neither grandma nor I even remember if the car actually had seatbelts to begin with because we never used them.The average speed for automobile drivers in Bermuda is around 40 kph-50kph or 21mph31mph. An unrestrained three-year-old, weighing about 33 pounds in a near frontal or frontal collision at around 50kph can be thrown with astronomical force from the backseat into the front of the car. The force is the equivalent to a three-storey fall for a child.I had to brake suddenly with my 23-pound dog in the backseat. He ended up in the front seat hitting the handbrake and gear shift forcing the car into neutral. Fortunately he was not hurt. I immediately purchased a seatbelt for him the following day. I do get laughs about my dog in a seatbelt, but I choose a chance at life. My dog is no exception.It is a popular belief that an adult holding a baby in his lap can protect them from the g-force of a near frontal or frontal collision. The sobering truth is that an adult’s weight is multiplied 15 times in a 50kph collision and therefore could crush the baby between whatever stops him from going forward from the impact. Think of this, the average man weighing 165lbs becomes 2,475lbs on a 10lb child in such a collision. It is also possible that gravity could rip the child out of his arms.Strapping a child in the seatbelt with you is also unsafe. In the event of even a minor collision your seatbelt will activate and the child will take the brunt of your weight and the restraint of the seatbelt. This could lead to serious internal injuries for the child.Constantly ordering your children to sit down in the car is not going to save their lives. Fastening them into a car seat, booster seat or seatbelt which is age appropriate will give them a chance to survive the unthinkable. Please stop playing Russian Roulette with your precious cargo.“What an old man will see while seating, a small child cannot see even standing on top of a mountain.” African ProverbTINA WYNNSandys