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4 Easy Steps in Preventing Child Passenger Injuries

Our children are our most precious resource and in light of the fact that motor vehicle accidents is the leading cause of death among children aged 3 to 14 years old. On the average, 4 children are killed and 529 more are injured every day because of car accidents.

The following are the factors behind child passenger injuries and fatalities:

• Drunk driver. 1 out of 4 child passenger deaths involved a drunk driver. Further, 2/3 of all fatally injured children were riding with a driver who’s intoxicated.
• Failure to use safety restraints. Statistics show that almost half of all the children who died in a crash were not restrained in any form or manner.
• Improper use of child restraints. Many child passengers who were injured in accidents were due to the incorrect use of booster seats, child seats, or seatbelts. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), as much as 73 percent of all child safety restraints are not installed or used correctly.

Given the high rate of child occupant death and injuries, parents should prioritize preventing child passenger injuries before they take their kids on the road. Here are 4 easy steps in preventing child passenger injuries:

1. Infants aged 0-1 years old and at least 20 pounds should be kept in the back seat, in rear-facing child safety seats. To properly install the child safety seat, always read the child seat instruction manual provided by the manufacturer. The manual provides specific instructions on the proper use and installation of their child seats.
2. Once your child outgrows their rear-facing seats, they should ride in forward-facing child safety seats and be placed in the back seat. Toddlers aged 1-4 years old and weighing 20 lbs-40 lbs should be placed in forward-facing child safety seats.
3. Children aged 4 years old who those who have outgrown their forward facing seats (beyond 40 pounds), they must be placed on booster seats and strapped in the backseat until they can be safely restrained by the vehicle seat belts.
4. Children aged 8 years old and older or when they are 4’9 tall can now use the adult seat belt and sit in the back seat once they outgrow their booster seats. The safety belts must fit properly – the lap belt must lay across the upper thigh and the shoulder belt must fit across the chest.

If children are properly restrained in the vehicle, fatal injuries can be reduced by as much as 71 percent for infants (younger than 1 year old) and 54 percent for toddlers (1 to 4 years old).

Further, parents should remember that children aged 12 years old and younger should ride in the back seat to prevent injuries from the deployment of air bags. Make sure to check with the databank of the NHTSA to find out if any of the child safety seats you are using are safe and have not been recalled.