Child Occupant Safety: Towards Implementation of Child Restraint System Law in Malaysia

The World Health Organization (WHO) has consistently recommended that all countries regardless of their income add the requirement for Child Restraint System (CRS) to their traffic regulations in order to promote road safety. Malaysia is adopting the CRS regulation in 2020. This paper aims to discuss the readiness and mapping of the roadmap towards the implementation of the law. In a temporal view of road crashes, CRS was part of 'during-crash' passive safety components i.e. to provide protection during the crash impact phase. This analysis includes the CRS benefits and issues, related road safety strategic programmes, the current legal framework, and local research findings based on observational studies. CRS usage and acceptance are on the rise, although still at a nascent stage. This situation can be considered as 'below satisfactory compliance level', hence a more inclusive solution is needed, including the introduction of technology, to influence or compel parents to ensure their children are always secured by CRS while on the road.