Italy launches car seat child alarms after deaths

Rome: Italy introduced a regulation on Thursday requiring drivers to equip car seats with an alarm designed to prevent children being left alone in vehicles, after a spate of heatwave deaths.

In what is believed to be a first in Europe, Italy will impose fines of between 81 and 326 euros if the car is not equipped with the device, and offenders will lose five points on their licence, the transport ministry said.

The alarm, which must be fitted on car seats for children under the age of four, should alert the driver to the presence of a child through vibrating audio and visual signals, detectable from inside and outside the vehicle.

The law was first proposed last year after several infants died from being left in vehicles in scorching heat.