Child
Passenger Safety
Child safety seats and seat
belts are essential for protecting your children in case of a car accident.
To be effective, these child passenger safety devices must be used properly.
As a driver, you are responsible for child passenger safety, and we can
help you understand how to keep kids safe while driving.
Fact:
On average, seven children
age 14 and under are killed in traffic accidents each day. (Source: National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration)
Research conducted by the
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows that when a driver
is unbuckled, children in the same car are properly restrained less than
25 percent of the time. Non-use of seat belts is a conscious - and life-threatening
- decision thousands of adult drivers and passengers make. Unfortunately,
children often are the unwitting victims of this behavior.
In a recent survey of 423
grade school children and found that 67 percent of children surveyed said
they learn driving safety "from a parent." However, only 47 percent of
children surveyed said that the first thing their parents do when they
get into a car is put on a seat belt.
Seat belt tips for child
passenger safety:
-
All children age 12 and under
should be buckled up in the rear seat of the vehicle.
-
Children should ride in an appropriate
child safety seat until 8 years of age, unless they are 4 feet 9 inches
tall and weigh 80 pounds.
-
Holding a child in your lap
provides no additional safety. An unrestrained 10-pound infant would instantly
be ripped from an adult's arms in a 30-mph collision.
-
Don't place a single seat belt
over yourself and a child. In a front-end collision, the child could be
crushed by your body.
-
A seat belt must be adjusted
to the size of a child. As with adults, the lap belt should cross the child's
upper thighs and the diagonal belt should cross the upper chest and a point
between the neck and the center of the shoulder.
-
Children should continue to
use a belt-positioning booster until the lap and shoulder belts fit properly
and the child's legs are long enough to bend at the edge of the seat.
Child safety seat tips:
Safety requirements change as children grow. Learn the basic facts
for proper use of child safety seats.
-
Infants - From birth to 1 year
and at least 20 pounds, infants should be placed in rear-facing child safety
seats in the back seat of the car. The harness straps should be at or below
shoulder level.
-
Toddlers - From 1 year and at
least 20 to 40 pounds, toddlers should be placed in forward-facing child
safety seats in the back seat of the car. The harness straps should be
at or above the shoulders. Children who are less than 1 year but weigh
more than 20 pounds should ride in restraint seats approved for higher
rear-facing weights.
-
Young children - Children more
than 40 pounds but less than 4 feet 9 inches tall should be placed in forward-facing
booster seats in the back seat of the car. Lap belts should fit low and
tight across the thighs, and shoulder belts should fit snugly across the
chest and shoulder to prevent abdominal injuries.
Child passenger safety facts:
Safety education is working.
Car accident fatalities for children under five dropped from 706 in 2000
to 668 in 2001. The number of fatalities for children ages five to 15 dropped
from 2,105 to 1,990 in 2001. (Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration)
Child safety seats save
lives. Correct use of a child safety seat can reduce the risk of accident-related
injuries and deaths by more than 70 percent. (Source: NHTSA)
Seat belts can ensure child
passenger safety. Six out of 10 children who die in passenger vehicle crashes
are unbelted. (Source: NHTSA)