Safer children

The legal obligation will probably start next year: anyone transporting children under 4 years old in a car must use an anti-abandonment car seat or an anti-abandonment device (an accessory). What is it about? There are mainly two types: a cushion for the child to sit on or a clip that attaches to the car seat's safety belt. The devices are connected via an app to the driver's mobile phone; if this person moves more than 10 meters away, leaving the child in the car, an alarm is triggered, with visual signals and often a phone call. If there is no answer, the system starts calling the indicated emergency numbers one after another until it gets a contact, and at that point, it sends the car's GPS position. The implementing decree of law no. 117/2018 has only just been signed, a year later, but has not yet come into force; for the exact date, we will have to wait for its publication in the Official Gazette. This is not the only uncertainty: other aspects highlighted by the Council of State await clarification. We will return to the topic.