Car Seat Safety

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Parents and children alike look forward to four years and forty pounds when they no longer have to hassle with car seats. Even though experts (including me) recommend not using regular seat belts until about age nine, the overwhelming majority of pre-school and school-age kids ride in restraints designed for adults. How has this affected children’s safety? A study of four and five-year-olds, published in the June 2000 issue of Pediatrics, looked at the actual results. The children in the study who wore regular seat belts were 2.4 times more likely to have serious injury or death than those in booster seats. Children deserve safety designed for them!



Alan Greene MD FAAP
July 9, 2000
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DrGreene's picture
DrGreene

Car Safety

jkrew, thanks for your comment!

Motor vehicle crashes are more likely to rob our children of life than any other single cause. Learning how to protect them from injuries in collisions is one of the most important things we can do for our children.

This includes using the right child safety restraint and using it correctly. It also means choosing to drive safely (e.g, not impaired by alcohol, sleepiness, or a mobile phone).

Not only can these things protect our children now, but they can set a good example for the rapidly-approaching time when they will be teenage drivers, with another set of risks.

My little news update that you commented on above was from a decade ago, when the overwhelming majority of children still used adult seat belts rather than special safety seats designed for children. Booster seats for kids over 4 years old weren't common.

I was not condoning this, but calling for change, "The children in the study who wore regular seat belts were 2.4 times more likely to have serious injury or death than those in booster seats. Children deserve safety designed for them!"

I'm thrilled with the changes of the last decade, and look forward to greater safety still.

Back in 2000 it was common for parents and kids to look forward to 4 years and 40 pounds. I was trying to acknowledge their desire and the hassles many of them described with the older technology -- but recommend they not settle for adult seat belts. Our kids are too precious!

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jkrew's picture
jkrew

Car Seat Safety

1

Every step down in car seat is a step down in safety and I am not too happy to see a doctor referring to car seats as a hassle. It takes me maybe 30 seconds to buckle my kids in their car seats so a minute total. A minute of your time is too much of a hassle?

There is NO magic age that children are ready to ride in an adult seat belt. Many states are passing an 8 or 80lb law which is great but even some 8 and 9 year olds do not fit properly in an adult seat belt.

The 5-Step Test.

1. Does the child sit all the way back against the auto seat?
2. Do the child's knees bend comfortably at the edge of the auto seat?
3. Does the belt cross the shoulder between the neck and arm?
4. Is the lap belt as low as possible, touching the thighs?
5. Can the child stay seated like this for the whole trip?

If the answer to ANY of these questions is no then the child needs to be in a booster seat. Children should ride in a HARNESSED car seat to a bare minimum of 4 years AND 40lbs. But if the child can still fit by height and weight in their harnessed car seat it is advised that they do so.

For more information regarding all aspects of car seat safety please visit www.car-seat.org

~Jen Certified Child Passenger Safety Technician.

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