Thirteen years ago, Eran Jalbert Jones losttwo children – four-year-old Hailie and 17-month-old Trent – alongside her sister-in-law in a head on collision with a truck in Alberta. Since the death of her daughter and son, Jones has moved back to New Brunswick and become a child passenger safety advocate, pushing for regulatory changes she believes could have saved Hailie and Trent. Last week, Nova Scotia announced new child passenger safety rules that mean children must ride in rear-facing car seats until they’re at least two years old, and sit on forward facing car seats until they’re at least four years old. Jones said she cried when she heard the news. “It’s a win. It’s a win for safety. It’s a win for my kids,” Jones said. “It’s a positive sign that, you know, our kids are going to be safer on the road.” Now, she wants New Brunswick to do the same. “One province starts and the rest could possibly go as well.” At the time of the accident, Trent was in a forward-facing car seat, while Hailie was in a backless booster seat, which were both legal. “If I could have had the proper education that I give to parents now, my son would have been rear-facing, my daughter would have been in a five-point harness... it could have saved their lives,” Jones said. Transport Canada also recommends children use rear-facing car seats as long as possible, and only shift to front-facing car seats once they weigh 10 kg or 22 lbs. IWK Safety Link health promotion specialist Katherine Hutka is also hoping to see Nova Scotia’s regulatory changes spread. “Sometimes when we bring these to other provinces, they’ll say, ‘Show us what the other provinces have done.’ And so I hope that this starts the ball rolling and it cascades across the country,” Hutka said. Jones is in the process of scheduling a meeting with New Brunswick’s Public Safety Minister Robert Gauvin. “The Department of Justice and Public Safety is continuing to review child passenger safety requirements, by examining approaches in other jurisdictions and the current child restraint specifications of manufacturers to ensure they will meet provincial requirements,” a spokesperson said. The timing of the regulatory shift hits close to home for Jones. Trent’s 15th birthday is on Sunday. “It’s like a birthday gift for him. He’s saving lives,” she said. She will spend the day doing a car seat check workshop in his honour. The new Nova Scotia regulations go into effect on Monday. For more New Brunswick news, visit our dedicated provincial page.
