Protect Your Precious Cargo

In Colorado in 2003, 46 child passengers under the age of 16 died in motor vehicle collisions. Of the victims, 33 (72 percent) were riding completely unrestrained. While it is easy to assume most of these tragedies resulted from terrible highway collisions, the truth is the majority of car accidents happen within 25 miles of home, and 60 percent of them happen on roadways where the speed limit is 40 miles per hour or less.North American statistics consistently show that over the past 35 years, motor vehicle collisions are the leading cause of mortality and morbidity among children ages 1 to 14. Each year, twice as many children are injured or killed while inside automobiles as children injured or killed outside an automobile.Many parents lack the knowledge of appropriate child-car safety procedures. A survey recently noted that only 46 percent of parents surveyed knew that a child weighing 40 to 60 lbs. should travel in a booster seat, and only 59 percent knew that state saw requires child-safety seat use for children up to 4 years of age, weighing up to 40 lbs.State laws detail how child safety seats should be used from birth:

1. Infants must ride in a rear-facing child safety seat until they are at least 1-year-old AND weigh at least 20 lbs. These are minimum requirements. The longer you keep your child in a rear-facing position, the safer he will be. In a front-end collision (the most common), the stress in a forward-facing position can cause more injury to the neck and spine than rear facing.
2. Children ages 1-to-4 years old who weigh between 20 and 40 lbs. should be restrained in a forward-facing child-safety seat.
3. Children who are over 40 lbs. or at least 4 years old should be properly restrained, with a child-safety belt-positioning device, in a child-booster seat until they are 6 years old or 55 inches tall.
4. A child who is at least 6 years old or at least 55 inches tall must be properly restrained with a seat belt.

Even parents that do have their child in a restraint make common mistakes:

• A child is placed in a restraint not designed for his/her size and weight.
• The restraint is not properly anchored to the vehicle.
• The restraint is not properly applied to the child.

A parent should never hold an infant or child on his or her lap while riding in a motor vehicle. In a front-end collision at a 25 mile-per-hour impact, the forces on the child make him harder to hold. If the weight of a baby is 7.5 lbs., its effective weight increases to 150 lbs. If the child’s weight is 25 lbs., the effective weight is 500 lbs. It is impossible for an adult to hold the child under those conditions. Add to these situations the fact that if the child is unrestrained, there is a good chance the adult holding the child is also unrestrained. His or her body weight may crush the child against the dashboard or the back of the front seat, if a collision occurs. As many as 40 percent of infants younger than one year old are traveling in cars on an adult’s lap. (O’Shea, JS Childhood accident prevention strategies. Forensic Sci Int 1986; 30: 99-111)Because they are shorter and seat belts in cars are made for adults, children will often place a shoulder belt under their arm because it is uncomfortable across their neck or face. This position is hazardous and can cause many internal injuries to vital organs in an accident that may otherwise be a survivable condition. In fact, as of Aug. 1, there is an enforceable law requiring children to use a booster seat until they are 6 years old or at least 55 inches tall. Using a booster seat correctly positions the vehicle’s harness on the child – across the upper thighs – the shoulder strap is across the chest.Follow these tips for a proper seat belt fit:

1. Child can sit all the way back against the rear of the car seat
2. Child’s knees bend comfortable at the edge of the seat
3. Belt crosses the shoulder between the neck and arm
4. Lap belt is as low as possible touching the thighs
5. Child can stay seated like this for the whole trip

Your child should be correctly harnessed in a car seat at all times while traveling. More often than not, an accident occurs when someone else hits a vehicle driven by the child’s mother in good weather, without the influence of alcohol, and within a few miles of home. A collision does not need to occur for a child to be injured. Sudden swerves, stops and turning corners cause movements that can lead to injury.For more information on child seat safety, installation recommendations and laws, visit www.carseatcolorado.com.