Transport Ministry may exempt ‘large families’ from mandatory child safety seats in cars

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 28 — The Transport Ministry is considering giving an exception to large families in the mandatory installation of child restraint seats (CRS) in vehicles.

Its deputy minister Kamarudin Jaffar told Rasah MP Cha Kee Chin in the Dewan Rakyat today that no punitive measures will be taken during the child safety seat’s introductory period.

“Touching on large families with a lot of children, where four to five CRS might not fit in a car, I would like to say that the ministry considers the introductory period as a training period. There will be no punitive measures.

“Specifically for large families, an exemption might be given if the CRS is not installed depending on the number of children and the size of the vehicle. This is being considered by the ministry,” said Kamarudin.

Paya Besar MP Mohd Shahar Abdullah then asked if public transport such as taxis and buses must install the CRS.

Kamarudin told him that the first phase of the mandatory CRS installation is only for private vehicles before it expands to public transportation.

The deputy minister also pointed out that roughly 14 to 15 per cent of deaths on the road involved children.

To ensure that the mandatory CRS will not be a burden to the B40 group, Kamarudin said that the import duty has been zero-rated and its SST rate has been reduced to 5 per cent from 10 per cent.

Source: MalayMail