Seatbelts made as simple as child's play

14 May 2004

Media Release - 14 May 2004

The Minister for the TAC, Rob Hulls, today launched a new road safety campaign designed to promote the safe use of restraints among young children.

The new TAC and VicRoads campaign aimed at both children and their parents, uses animation and features popular road safety character ThingleToodle.

Mr Hulls said that although the campaign was deliberately designed to appeal to young children, it also carried a serious message for parents about their responsibilities as road safety role models.

"Children copy their parents from a very early age and because of that it's important that they are given the right sort of guidance and some consistency," he said.

"So parents need to ensure that the same rule applies to both children and adults and that the car doesn't move until everyone is buckled up.

"It's a relatively simple message but a necessary one and we as a community need to work together to do everything within our power to protect our most vulnerable road users."

In the last five years, 35 young children under the age of six years have died in road crashes. Of these, 22 were passengers.

A further 445 children were seriously injured and another 1,644 sustained minor injuries.

Mr Hulls said that this made road trauma one of the main causes of death and injuries among
pre-school aged children.

"Children are at risk on the roads because of their size and the complexity of the road traffic situations that are now a feature of the world we live in," he said.

"You aren't born knowing the road rules and this makes it even more important that we engage children from the very beginning and encourage them to actively participate.

"Sometimes it can be as simple as singing a song or playing a game. This latest campaign will give parents a fun way to educate their children."

The campaign, part of the Starting Out Safely program, will go to air tonight.

The road toll currently stands at 136 down from 143 at the same time last year, (a decrease of 5%).