Two-year-old Akom was sitting in the front seat of the car when his father lost control and slammed the vehicle
against an electricity pole on Sector 17 on Tuesday.

Even as Akom’s grandfather —  sitting in the front seat and holding him on his lap had his seat belt on, the toddler flung out of the car due to the impact of the collision.

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As he fell on the road, Akom suffered multiple head injuries and died in the hospital a day later.

Luckily, Akom's other family members survived the accident as his father (driver) and grandfather were wearing seat belts. The four other passengers on the back seat — Akom's mother and three cousins — too suffered minor injuries despite not wearing the seat belts.

As this incident has yet again underlined the importance of seat belts and making children sit in the rear seat, the Chandigarh Traffic Police decided to launch an awareness campaign for the same as seat belts come in standard size for the grown ups.

So even if children wear seat belt, specially in front seat,it's not suitable for them as they body can't fit it. Therefore parents should not permit or encourage their children from the age of two to seven-year-old to sit in the front seat.

They should start utilising the special child seats in-four wheeler by the guardians can help a great deal of incidents
like this,”.Eish Singhal, Chandigarh's senior superintendent of police (SSP) said.

He said making children take the rear seat in a car is a better option.Otherwise, special child seat cab be used in four-wheelers to make it safe for them. "Over a year wearing of safety belts has decreased the fatalities and serious wounds to a huge degree," Singhal added.

According the Balu Lal, station in-charge (SI), of Children Traffic Park, Sector-23 said, “Parents ought to dependably like to make their children sit on the back seats alongside a belt. Nowadays children keep their eyes stuck to the gadgets (Mobile or iPad) which make them disregard the environment,”.

Lal said the Chandigarh Police will distribute pamphlets to raise awareness about the issue.