Comments on: Daddy-san (part 5): Car Safety – the state of child seat use in Japan

By: Julie

Julie — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 12:51:46 +0000

I am in shock daily seeing moms using baby carriers and driving with their baby strapped to their back or front. I rarely see kids seated and using a seatbelt. Had a Japanese mom comment that my kids were so great to be able to use car seats, as if I asked them, it’s not a choice to protect my kids. Japanese seems to think they will not get into an accident, even in Aichi which has the most traffic accidents every year. I have even seen a dad with his baby on his back and his two year sitting in front of him on a scooter. Makes me sick to my stomach. I have made comments before to moms, but they just don’t seem to get it. What can we do?

By: Hills zoku

Hills zoku — Thu, 17 May 2012 04:26:42 +0000

David,
Here is a good summary (although in Japanese) put out by the Kanagawa police:
http://www.police.pref.kanagawa.jp/mes/mesf2012.htm
Essentially there are 3 types of seats:
infant seat: (ages 0-1)
toddler seat: (ages 1-4)
child seat: (ages 4-10)
If you drop by your local shopping center (Aeon has a good range) and check out their seats they will have a chart explaining which you can use for how long. The best thing you can get is one that doubles as a toddler and child seat so you don’t have to buy two.

By: David

David — Tue, 08 May 2012 03:58:49 +0000

I am interested to hear more about what kinds of child seats are necessary through what ages. Surely 6 year olds don’t need to be in what we classically know as a baby seat? When can they change to a more appropriate safety seat?

Any info. would be greatly appreciated.

By: Ken

Ken — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 06:06:39 +0000

Jeff,　are you advocating that it is not necessary to buckle a child for short trips or that parents who don’t feel like doing it should be let off the hook? Floor you brake pedal at 15km/h and see if your child stays in his seat. Or wait until another car, probably a taxi, collides with you at double or more of your 15km/h “safe” speed. I for sure would not like to be your son. Parents have a responsibility to protect their kids and reduce risks to them. If I have to buckle my child in, whether government mandated or not, I will choose to do it, not for myself, but for my child. There are many times I thought “It’s just a short trip”, but I still buckled my child. It is too easy to be lazy with your child’s wellbeing.

Also, you didn’t offer up anything to counter “all your one-sided statistics” for taxis. Here you go – some more one-sided stats. Taxis are involved in accidents 8 times more that standard passenger cars. (http://goo.gl/ax9vt) That’s because they are on the roads more, you say. True but, on a million km comparison (http://goo.gl/1CvTb), there are 1.704 taxi accidents compared to 1.195 for all other vehicles. When you consider how few taxis there are compared to other vehicles, it does not seem unreasonable to claim that you take your chances in a taxi.

You seem to like statistics. Here are some more. Death from not wearing seatbelts, including child restraints, is 14 times higher and the likelihood of being thrown out of the vehicle is 33 times compared to buckling up. (National Police Agency) http://goo.gl/k3bN4 and http://goo.gl/VyPL0).　　In Tokyo, of all traffic accident related deaths, 60% of deaths are in vehicle accidents, 20% bicycle, 12% motorbike, 7% pedestrian and 1% other (http://goo.gl/rehzL). That is, most people die in car accidents. Not being required to use a child restraint in a taxi doesn’t mean it is any safer. It is just an indication how much value is put on child safety by the driver, the government and ultimately – you.

Still think buckling up is “Completely impractical for life in Tokyo”? It is completely practical if you want you and your child to HAVE a life in Tokyo or any other place in the world, even if it is for a short 5 min. trip or in a taxi.

By: jeff

jeff — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 22:28:08 +0000

Come on, what you are proposing is completely impractical for life in Tokyo. In the UK, sure, you get around by car a lot more because of the shyte state of public transport for one thing. But in Tokyo you are in all probability not going to use one for more than a short trip if it’s by taxi (unless you’re loaded). OK the guy says he hasn’t had an accident before. It’s up to you to call his bluff but then, with all your one-sided statistics, tell us this: what are the actual stats for children being hurt or killed in a taxi accident in Tokyo or elsewhere for that matter?
I have a car but I don’t buckle my 4-year old in every time I drive him 5 minutes to the kindergarten (averaging what 15km/h along backstreets?) I mean, put things in perspective. Say you walk to kindergarten. Many Tokyo streets have no pavements so pedestrians are only “separated” from the traffic by just a white-painted line. Or you cycle? Don’t you find that many mothers (and it is mostly mothers) take their kids to school on a bicycle with add-on child-seat either hooked to the handlebar or bolted on to the rear rack? You might want some accident statistics on this mode of transport too.
If the prospect of your kid being hurt in a car accident on a short trip scares you, you frankly must be very uncomfortable living in Japan.

By: Tom

Tom — Sun, 29 May 2011 09:22:33 +0000

You don’t rebut it, you pull your arrogant know-it-all nose out of their business and let them live their lives how they want. Japan isn’t a nanny state like england.

By: marv

marv — Mon, 16 May 2011 12:12:41 +0000

welcome back Stippy

By: Daddy-san (part 5): Car Safety – the state of child seat use in Japan « Education News & APP

Sun, 01 May 2011 20:41:13 +0000

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