You know what you’re supposed to do when you get into your car: sit down and buckle up! Unfortunately, drivers aren’t buckling in and many of them aren’t buckling in their young children. That’s one of the main reasons why there are close to 150,000 children who find themselves in an emergency room every year because of car accidents.
Experts with the University of Michigan recently examined the issue. They looked into how often parents were improperly buckling in children or not buckling them in at all.
Our Fort Pierce injury lawyers understand that parents, guardians and childcare providers are the saving grace for these children in the event of a car accident. They need to make sure that their child passengers are properly buckled in during every car ride. Their bodies can’t sustain the impact of a car collision as well as an adult.
Officials with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) previously released new child car seat recommendations for adults to review and to practice. According to the recent study, which was posted in the American Journal or Preventative Medicine, illustrated that large numbers of parents and guardians probably never looked at this information.
Unfortunately, car accidents continue to be the number one cause of death for children who are under the age of 3. They can do nothing about it either as they rely on parents and guardians to properly buckle them in during every car ride.
Within the study, officials found that not many children stayed in a rear-facing car seat after the age of 1-years-old. According to the most recent recommendations from the NHTSA, a child should remain in this seat for as long as they meet the size and weight requirements set forth by the seat’s manufacturer. Researchers also found that less than 2 percent used a booster seat after the child turned 7-years-old. Again, children are suggested to stay in a booster seat until they can properly fit into an adult seat belt.
In the study, researchers looked at nearly 21,500 children who were riding in vehicles. They located these kids at fast food restaurants, at childcare centers, at gas stations and at other areas. They tracked what kind of family was in the vehicle and who all was buckled in.
The study concluded that as children aged, they were less likely to be buckled at all.
Our young passengers rely on us to keep them safe in the car. Make sure that all children are buckled in during every car ride. There’s never an excuse to improperly seat these fragile passengers!
If you or a loved one has been injured in a car accident, contact the injury lawyers at Freeman, Mallard, Sharp & Gonzalez. Call us at 1-800-561-7777 for a free and confidential consultation to discuss your case.
More Blog Entries:
Child Injury in St. Lucie: Check Defective Product Recalls, South Florida Injury Lawyers Blog, July 27, 2012
Accidents in Port St. Lucie and Elsewhere Likely with Children, Cars and High Temps, South Florida Injury Lawyers Blog, July 1, 2012