Children In Cars

Sir, - The recent campaign by the National Road Safety Council to "light up" seems to have a positive effect in reducing road…

Sir, - The recent campaign by the National Road Safety Council to "light up" seems to have a positive effect in reducing road deaths during the last bank holiday weekend. It would be of great benefit, if emphasis were also put on educating the ignorant and irresponsible parents who still insist in travelling our roads with their children unrestrained in the rear seats of their cars.

Children are regularly seen standing between the two front seats, lying behind the rear seat or even leaning out of windows or sunroofs. These children are potential missiles, prone to severe injuries, even at low speeds. Would these same parents travel with their best china standing loose on a rear seat? Gardai, as we all know, are already stretched to their limits, but they do not seem to be very active in encouraging or enforcing the wearing of rear seatbelts. Surely it is high time for a national campaign about this. - Yours, etc.,

Dr P. A. Lincoln, Grange Wood, Rathfarnham, Dublin 16.