Madrid.And older children who do not wear seatbelts could face the same fate. These drastic measures will apply after the parent driving has been fined on three or more occasions for not having their children in car-seats or seatbelts as applicable.
Traffic prosecutor Bartolomé Vargas said police will be instructed to notify his department on the third occasion a parent is stopped and sanctioned.
At this point, the children's prosecution service will decide whether there are grounds for taking protective measures' concerning the youngster's safety.
Where a child under 14 dies in a car accident, a full investigation will be carried out to ascertain whether the appropriate car-seat or seatbelt was used and would have saved his or her life and, depending upon the result, the parent who was driving may be tried for negligent homicide.
According to a report investigating the causes and circumstances surrounding deaths of children in road accidents between 2008 and 2010, around 50% of fatalities could have been avoided by the use of these devices, said Vargas. He added that in 18% of cases where safety devices had been used, they had been fastened incorrectly.
Parents can also face jail and a four-year driving ban where the child survives but suffers injuries and is found not to have been using the correct safety fixtures. Vargas says 69% of fatal accidents on the roads are caused by bad driving, with 20% of this figure caused by speeding.
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