I REFER to Mr William Wadsworth's letter (South China Morning Post, June 21) on the subject of the proposed rear seat belt law. This proposed law has been thoroughly considered at a number of meetings of the Transport Advisory Committee (TAC) over the past six months. On child restraint requirements, TAC's view is that at the initial stage there would be no child restraint requirement for children under three years of age in the proposed law. The concern for safety of children under three, as rear seat car passengers, was fully recognised and debated. But it is necessary to allow certain flexibility in any child restraint requirement. For instance, the new legislation should not prevent any car driver from offering a lift to friends' or relatives' children just because he has no child restraint installed in his car. Various exemptions are provided in this respect in overseas legislation. In some parts of the United States and Canada, the requirement for child restraint in the law only applies to children travelling in their parents' cars. On the other hand, the European Community requires that a child restraint should be worn only if available; otherwise, the child may travel in the rear seat unrestrained. After considering these overseas practices and having regard to the situation in Hongkong, the committee has accepted the recommendation that child restraint requirements for children under three in the rear seat would more appropriately be promoted through road safety publicity and education measures rather than immediate legislation. To this end, a series of publicity and education programmes will be launched shortly, the effect of which will be closely monitored by this department. Y. C. YEUNG for Commissioner for Transport
