Parents’ awareness on compliance with the use of child restraint system: a quantitative pilot study at kindergarten and nursery in Parit Raja, Batu Pahat, Johor

Abstract

It has been reported that children transported in private vehicles are the leading groups of casualties among those aged 1 to 9 years old in Malaysia. Child Restraint System (CRS) is made mandatory on 1 January 2020 to reduce road fatalities among those vulnerable children. However, study found that the use of CRS is still at an unsatisfactory level even though the law has been enforced. Hence, this pilot study was conducted to determine the awareness, usage, and compliance with the use of child restraint system by means of quantitative measures. Questionnaire and observation survey were conducted in 6 participating kindergartens and nurseries in Parit Raja and received a total of 34 respondents. The self-reported survey results show that 97.1% of the respondents are aware of the enforcement on 1 January 2020, only 35.3% of the parents used CRS every time riding in a vehicle. Challenges in complying with the use of CRS are household income, lack of awareness program and knowledge on the importance of CRS. Parents who send their children to government kindergartens by 4-wheel vehicle are observed to not use CRS. In short, parents in this pilot study show that they are aware of the risks of not using CRS, but majority is still unable to comply with CRS usage.