Child Safety Seat Month: Tips to help keep your children safe
By
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By Donnie Barrera
September 18-24 has been designated Child Safety Seat Week by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
Times have changed over the years since I was a child. Moms and dads used to put the kids in the back of the car, and off to town they would go. Thankfully, my brother, sister and I all survived these years of travel without incident.
Child seats were beginning to be manufactured in the early 1930s. Their purpose was not for the safety of the children. Their purpose was to act as a booster seat to bring the child to a height easier for the parents to see them. It was not until 1962 that the seats were invented with the purpose of protecting a child.
Research on the effectiveness of child safety seats in cars has found them to reduce fatal injury by 71 percent for infants less than 1 year old and by 54 percent for toddlers 1-4 years old. Among passenger vehicle occupants over 4 years old, safety belts saved an estimated 11,889 lives in 2000.
A 2008 report from NHTSA shows that children from birth to age 1 were in car seats 99 percent of the time. Children from ages 1-3 years old were in car seats 92 percent of the time, and children 4-7 were in car seats 89 percent of the time. Sadly, as children become between 8-12 years of age, they ride in a restraint only 85 percent of the time.
Parents and caregivers should follow a few basic guidelines to determine which restraint system is best suited to protect their children in a vehicle:
• For the best possible protection, keep infants in a back seat, in a rear-facing child safety seat, as long as possible, up to the height or weight limit of the particular seat. Never turn a child forward facing the front before the age of 1 and at least 20 pounds, although keeping children rear-facing until at least 2 years old is safer and
preferred, if the seat allows.
• When children outgrow their rear-facing seats, they should ride in a forward-facing child safety seat, in a back seat, until they reach the upper weight or height limit of the particular harnessed seat. Many newer seats exceed the old 40-pound weight limit.
• Once children outgrow their forward-facing seats, they should ride in booster seats, in the back seat, until the vehicle seat belts fit properly.
• Seat belts fit properly when the lap belt lays across the upper thighs and the shoulder belt rests on the shoulder or collarbone (usually when the child is between 8 and 12 years old, approximately 4’9” tall and 80 to 100 pounds).
Highland County is fortunate to have a Certified Inspector with the Hillsboro Fire Department. You may contact Marc Bayless at 937-393-2902, Ext. 304 to set up an appointment for free assistance in setting the child safety seats in your vehicles correctly and safely.
This article is of the opinion of Donnie Barrera, who works at the Highland County Sheriff’s Office, and is not necessarily all-inclusive as to all child safety seats or child safety seat laws.[[In-content Ad]]
September 18-24 has been designated Child Safety Seat Week by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
Times have changed over the years since I was a child. Moms and dads used to put the kids in the back of the car, and off to town they would go. Thankfully, my brother, sister and I all survived these years of travel without incident.
Child seats were beginning to be manufactured in the early 1930s. Their purpose was not for the safety of the children. Their purpose was to act as a booster seat to bring the child to a height easier for the parents to see them. It was not until 1962 that the seats were invented with the purpose of protecting a child.
Research on the effectiveness of child safety seats in cars has found them to reduce fatal injury by 71 percent for infants less than 1 year old and by 54 percent for toddlers 1-4 years old. Among passenger vehicle occupants over 4 years old, safety belts saved an estimated 11,889 lives in 2000.
A 2008 report from NHTSA shows that children from birth to age 1 were in car seats 99 percent of the time. Children from ages 1-3 years old were in car seats 92 percent of the time, and children 4-7 were in car seats 89 percent of the time. Sadly, as children become between 8-12 years of age, they ride in a restraint only 85 percent of the time.
Parents and caregivers should follow a few basic guidelines to determine which restraint system is best suited to protect their children in a vehicle:
• For the best possible protection, keep infants in a back seat, in a rear-facing child safety seat, as long as possible, up to the height or weight limit of the particular seat. Never turn a child forward facing the front before the age of 1 and at least 20 pounds, although keeping children rear-facing until at least 2 years old is safer and
preferred, if the seat allows.
• When children outgrow their rear-facing seats, they should ride in a forward-facing child safety seat, in a back seat, until they reach the upper weight or height limit of the particular harnessed seat. Many newer seats exceed the old 40-pound weight limit.
• Once children outgrow their forward-facing seats, they should ride in booster seats, in the back seat, until the vehicle seat belts fit properly.
• Seat belts fit properly when the lap belt lays across the upper thighs and the shoulder belt rests on the shoulder or collarbone (usually when the child is between 8 and 12 years old, approximately 4’9” tall and 80 to 100 pounds).
Highland County is fortunate to have a Certified Inspector with the Hillsboro Fire Department. You may contact Marc Bayless at 937-393-2902, Ext. 304 to set up an appointment for free assistance in setting the child safety seats in your vehicles correctly and safely.
This article is of the opinion of Donnie Barrera, who works at the Highland County Sheriff’s Office, and is not necessarily all-inclusive as to all child safety seats or child safety seat laws.[[In-content Ad]]