An infant car seat, not a toddler seat, would probably be safer for this child.
Image: Flickr/Der Bettler
Most U.S. kids do not sit safely in cars, either because they are not properly restrained in car seats or booster seats, or because they sit in the front seat, according to a new study.
Researchers observed nearly 22,000 children and found that just 3 percent of children between ages 1 and 3 who were restrained at all were sitting in a proper, rear-facing car seat, and only 10 percent of 8- to 10-year-old children were properly restrained in a booster seat or a car seat.
The difficulty people have in adhering to car safety regulations may show how dramatically they've changed in recent years, said the study's author, Dr. Michelle Macy, of the C.S. Mott Children's Hospital at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. "For parents, it's not anything they would have done as kids," she said.
In the U.S., car crashes are the leading cause of death for children over age 3, however, and more than 140,000 children go to emergency rooms each year as a result of accidents. Properly seating a child in a car seat or booster seat, and in the back seat, reduces the risk of injury or death, but many parents don't follow the guidelines, the researchers said.
The researchers looked at data from previous studies that tracked children's seating in cars at public sites such as restaurants, child care centers and gas stations between 2007 and 2009, and based their observations on American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines for child passenger safety in 2011.
"The recommendations are confusing and have gone through a lot of changes," Macy said. Laws vary from state to state, and state laws aren't as strict as the recommendations from the AAP.
The newest AAP recommendations say that until age 2, children should sit in rear-facing seats, and children over age 2 should sit in front-facing seats with harnesses until their weight and height exceeds the car seat's capacity. Then, a booster seat should be used until a child is 57 inches tall, which is the height of an average 11-year-old. Kids shouldn't sit in the front seat until they're 13 years old, the AAP says.
The researchers found that compliance rates were low even under the older, less-restrictive recommendations.
Particularly common mistakes included that children over age 7 were seldom seated in a booster seat (only 2 percent of kids used a booster seat), and that by ages 8 to 10, a quarter of kids were already sitting in the front seat.
"It's more the children's size than their age," that's important to determining the proper car or booster seat, Macy said, and suggested that parents buy car seats with the highest maximum weights, so they last longer.
Additionally, the researchers found a wide gap in car seat and seat belt use between white children and children of black or Hispanic descent. Among kids ages 3 and under, black or Hispanic children were 10 times more likely to be unrestrained than their white counterparts.
The racial discrepancy between proper seat belt and car seat use has long been a barrier pediatricians have looked to fix, according to Susan Laurence, an injury prevention specialist who heads the car seat program at Cincinnati Children's Hospital. Events that educate parents of all ethnic communities about the benefits of car seat use can make a difference, she said.
"It's an awareness issue," Laurence said. "I don’t think that parents want to do something to harm their kids."
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11 Comments
Add CommentCalifornia has a new rule that is really simple almost inline with the AAPs guidelines:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCalifornia Law (Effective 01/01/2012):
Children under the age of 8 must be secured in a car seat or booster seat in the back seat.
Children under the age of 8 who are 4' 9" or taller may be secured by a safety belt in the back seat.
really glad to see this post. as a parent i am always alarmed when i see parents making poor choices with their childs car safety, usually in order to save money on upgrading when the time comes.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisno price is to small to keep my kid safe.
I don't know that the laws are that confusing. I'm amazed by the number of highly educated parents I know who poorly secure their children, ignoring the laws. Most pediatricians cover this at annual appointments. Parents are lazy and want to get their kids to stop complaining.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNon-compliance is most often supported by complicated rules using complicated devices. Make the rules easy to follow and they are more apt to be followed.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"more than 140,000 children go to emergency rooms each year as a result of accidents"
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis number is hard to picture. Instead, picture a small city with 42000 people, 10000 of them children. About 19 of those children go to the emergency room every year because of an auto accident.
"Researchers observed nearly 22,000 children and found that just 3 percent of children between ages 1 and 3 who were restrained at all were sitting in a proper, REAR-FACING car seat"
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAhhh....OK. I tried to put my son, who is 15 months in a rear facing car seat and there was NO place for his legs and feet. Poor guy was scrunched in an uncomfortable ball. This statistic does not surprise me. The design of the vehicles and how the car seat attaches to them does not support a rear-facing child.
Mythusmage,
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"complicated" is a relative term.
To update a cliché: "There's nothing I wouldn't do for my child, except reading the bleeping manual".
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt would help if the design of car-seats and automobiles allowed parents to conform to these standards. I know from experience that my daughter's rear-facing car-seat prevented the use of my front passenger seat. And if I had kept the seat rear-facing after her first year, I would have needed to run her legs up the back of the seat she was in. I was not prepared to stunt my child's growth to meet some arbitrary standard.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI can easily imagine that a healthy 8-10 year old boy will be ready for a daily fight over whether or not he sits in a "baby" seat. Really . . . a 3rd - 5th grade boy is going to be dropped at school and will jump out of his booster seat to greet his buddies. Won't happen. Nanny state meets planet Earth: nanny state failed to consider reality.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMrDrT
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAre you saying you leave life safety decision to an 8-year-old? Sad to say, but I would think your problem would not be 'nanny state', it would be parenting skills.