I read this article of a 3-year-old girl and her father who died crashing into a tree while the driving father tried to avoid a pothole. I have also read a whole ‘bunch’ of comments based on this article.
Well, I am here to tell those people that, the death of that ‘angel’ is on everybody conscience. I have been driving every day in town and see all kinds of attitudes displayed by people behind steering wheels carrying babies in their car. Here we are some of pointers to the unguided ways they manage the children in the cars:
- Babies loose on the back seat; jumping all over.
- Babies standing on the floor of the passenger seat
- Babies strapped on the back of their mothers, sitting without seat belts in commercial cars and private.
- Very little of these children are seated in a baby carrier for cars. Even when baby carriers are installed in the car, often times the baby is not strapped in it!
- Many children playing around the taxi drivers en route to or from school; playing while the driver drives.
- Babies carried by adults unsecured by wearing seat belts.
These are the many attitudes drivers display which put babies’ life in danger; reckless driving and absolute disrespect to basic traffic regulations completes the scenario.
The question is most of the crossroads of our capital and other important roads throughout the country have police patrols on standby and check points, but I have never seen a driver booked for this offense.
When disaster strikes, we blame everybody starting from President of Ghana to the last unknown politician forgetting that common sense is just not at work in many adults and the Authorities in charge do not tax law breakers.
Babies are one of the most important things mankind can achieve in their life time; thus they are so precious that, the idea of putting them at risk is an unpardonable offense. Already, so many die from hunger, wars and natural disasters; it is therefore “very stupid” to overlook safety precautions of babies while driving a few yards to school or just to buy an ice cream. We adults need to think and act responsibly all the time, especially when handling the future leaders of our society, the light in our lives.
