儿童安全座椅仍需跟上

Three times as many children are killed in car accidents in China, compared to the US -- that's despite China having fewer cars on the roads. One of the main causes is a lack of child safety seats and even seatbelts in Chinese cars. Guan Yang looks at why safety still isn't a priority for the Chinese car market and Chinese parents.

China,the world's largest market for automobiles, isn't a booming market for auto-accessories like child seats. The scant attention to auto safety, combined with overcrowded roads, have led to horrific accidents involving young children. But child-safety seats still aren't always used.

"I think it depends on where we are going. If it's a highway journey then I would put the child-seat in the back. Otherwise it's just a waste of space in the car," Mother Wang Jing from Shenyang, Liaoning Province, said,

"My boy is too big for a child seat now. He's over a meter tall, and I think it's a little expensive just for a seat," Mother Zhao Yashu from Shenyang, Liaoning Province, said,

Research shows only 5 percent of the population in China uses child seats, compared to nearly 95 percent in the EU. Chinese cultural issues pose a significant barrier to broader acceptance: because many Chinese families own only one car, usually a 5-Passenger Vehicle, and with grandpa and grandma on board—space is at a premium.

"Parents shouldn't take a chance... it doesn't matter if is a highway journey or a short city drive. Safety seats for children are considered the most important protective measure for traffic accidents today," Traffic police Ji Yuan, from Shenyang, Liaoning Province, said,

Another reason why child seats haven't caught on in China is that the country doesn't have national laws governing child restraints. At the moment, Shanghai & Shandong Province are the only governments that have introduced regulations on the use of child seats for children under the age of 4.

"In some foreign countries, parents are prohibited from driving their newborn babies home from hospitals if their vehicles are not equipped with child seats. I think the situation in China will get much better once regulations are introduced nationwide," Store manager Cai Guangsheng from Shenyang, Liaoning Province, said,

Chinese consumers are becoming more sophisticated and demanding, no more so than when it comes to their cars. But so far there's little sign that such fervor has extended to buying child seats. It's hoped that the awareness of safety car issue will rise and manufacturers will eventually find a huge market in the country.