Girl captured in handcuffs

Children’s Car Seats or Handcuffs? Ukraine’s New Law About Safe Driving with Kids Raises Some Questions

The safety of children on the road is no laughing matter and many countries are taking steps to protect them making kids’ car seats mandatory. However, as shows the latest piece of news from Ukraine, some governments are ridiculously inefficient when dealing with this matter. And that’s a horrifying thought.

What’s really happening with that new law?

In theory, the new law regarding children’s safety is sound and similar to what the majority of developed countries have. The gist of it is that if you drive a car with a child in it, you must ensure they are secured by a safety belt in an appropriate car seat or pay a fine.

The ridiculous part, however, is that the law doesn’t explicitly state “appropriate child car seat”, instead it states that one must use “special means” to secure the child during the ride.

The government’s official website has a legal glossary where the list of what classifies as “special means” is provided. Surprisingly enough, children’s car seats aren’t in it. However, interesting things like rubber batons, teargas, and handcuffs are.

The good news is that you don’t really need to handcuff the kid while driving. The bad, however, is that according to this piece of legislature, giving your child a pair of handcuffs to play with while driving means that you satisfy the legal requirements regarding child safety in a moving vehicle. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is about as sad as it can get.

Source protocol.ua