East African top lifestyle retailer, Deacons Kenya Limited (DKL) through its Babyshop brand launched its second annual child safety campaign to sensitize parents and guardians on child safety on the roads and also at home.

This comes at a time, when 2 out of every 5 road accidents victims are reported to be children below 10 years according to traffic police data.

According to Deacons Kenya Limited Chief Executive Officer Muchiri Wahome, the campaign dubbed ‘Child Safety First’ is meant to create awareness on the measures parents should take to keep their children safe on the roads as well as in the home; as a way of saving thousands of children dying in roads accidents annually as well as home related causes of child deaths.

Kenya has one of the highest road accident records in the world, with official statistics showing at least 3,000 people are killed annually. This has prompted the government to come up with tougher rules to curb the loss of lives witnessed over the years.

“Though measures are being taken to curb road accidents on our roads, childrens’ safety has always been compromised with some parents traveling with kids on their laps while others play in cars or even stick their heads out of moving car windows,” explained Mr. Muchiri.

The one month long babyshop child safety campaign is part of the retailer’s child safety campaign that takes place once every year.

“The objective is to sensitize parents, drivers and caregivers on measures to take to reduce rising cases of children deaths and the maiming of our future generation. There are many cases of road accidents, in which children are among fatalities, which could be prevented if the correct safety measures were followed,” explained Mr Muchiri.

According to Muchiri one of the first safety measures while on the road is to acquire car seats for children, depending on their age, weight and height. However, many parents are either buying the wrong seats for their cars, wrong for the child or wrongly fitting them.

“We have five different types of car seats and will be able to guide parents on what seats are suitable for their children,” said Muchiri.