Buckle Me Up: Australian Invention Aims To Reduce Child Injuries

An Australian invention hopes to end the worries of parents whilst in the car, and reduce the risk of unrestrained children suffering injuries following a collision.

Called Buckle Me Up, the invention is a wireless device that connects to any rear seatbelts being used by children, alerting if one of them becomes unfastened.

If a child’s inquisitive nature guides them to unbuckle their seatbelt, an alert will sound via a display mounted to the dashboard in a similar way to an electronic tolling tag.

The device’s creators say this eliminates the need for parents to randomly turn their heads to check that children are restrained during a journey, meaning fewer instances of distraction and less time spent with one’s eyes off the road.

Buckle Me Up says Queensland research suggests one in five people killed during a collision was not wearing a seatbelt, and that NSW statistics point to a 45 percent increase in fatalities among passengers without seatbelts.

Furthermore, 21.7 percent of children aged between four and 12 years of age who died during road collisions in NSW were not wearing seatbelts.

Technology