We Shouldn't Limit Child Passenger Safety Concerns to Just a Week

We Shouldn't Limit Child Passenger Safety Concerns to Just a Week: Let's Make It a Long-Term Commitment

As parents, we always like to think that we are doing the best things that we can to ensure our child's safety. But in spite of all kinds of car safety campaigns to get parents to help reduce their child's chances of injuries or death in a car wreck, NHTSA statistics show that a large number of kids still aren't getting the protection they need from child safety restraints when they ride in a car. For instance, you might be interested in these statistics on the use of child passenger safety restraints in the car:

• The NHTSA finds that even where child safety restraints are in use, 80% of these restraints are used improperly, which cuts down on the child passenger safety protection they can give.
  Almost 1/3 of our kids are in child safety restraints that are the wrong type for their age or size. This increases the children's chances of serious injury 3.5 times over that of properly restrained children.
  Of the children who have died because of airbag deployment, almost 90% of those children were either improperly restrained or not restrained in the car.
  Fewer then 20% of kids that should be restrained in booster seats actually use these seats.
  Fewer than 5% of children who could be in rear-facing seats actually are in rear-facing seats. In a side impact crash, forward-facing children are 4 times more likely to receive injuries than rear-facing children.

You might also want to see these related injury and fatality statistics related to child passenger safety:

• Riding in the back seat rather than the front seat reduces a child's chances of injury from a car wreck by almost 40% and reduces the chance of death by 30%.
  Riding properly restrained in the center rear seat reduces the child's chances of injury (compared to children riding in the outer rear seats) by almost 45%.
  The NHTSA states that car seats reduce the chances of infant car crash deaths by 71%. They reduce the chances of death for toddlers by 54% and reduce the chances of toddler injury in a car wreck by 69%.
  Children aged 2 to 5 restrained by an adult seat belt have a 4 times greater chance of suffering head injuries in a car crash than children in child safety restraints.
  Children in no restraints at all are more likely to be ejected from the vehicle during a crash. Their chances of death are 4 times greater and their chances of spinal injury 14 times greater than those of children in proper child safety restraints.

What I'm getting to here with all these numbers is that there's overwhelming evidence that your child is much safer in your car and in a car accident if he or she is properly restrained in an appropriate car seat or booster seat. I devote my professional life to helping clients and their children who have been injured or killed in a car wreck. So I've seen firsthand, many times over, just how costly it can be to not use proper safety restraints in your car.

So make sure that you and your child buckle up and seat up properly and avoid the costly consequences of a failure to do so. This month, from September 18 to 24, 2011, the NHTSA gives us Child Passenger Safety Week. And Saturday, September 24th is "Seat Check Saturday" when you can take advantage of a free car seat inspection and free advice from a Certified Child Passenger Safety Technician. So get those car seats checked, and give your child the safest car ride that you can provide as a parent.