Car safety for children
is so important. Injuries sustained in a car crash is the leading cause of
death for many children in the United States. One way to help prevent this is
to know how to correctly install car seats. Safe Kids World Wide shared the top
tips to ensure car safety for kids.
Tip 1: Check your car seat, it takes 15
minutes. Have a car seat checklist and have a safety technicians to make sure
you did it right.
Tip 2: Learn how to install a car seat.
There are many free car seat inspections that are put on by Safe Kids.
Tip 3: If you buy a used car seat find
out its crash history; know who you are buying the car seat from.
Tip 4: Be a good example and buckle up
in the vehicle.
Tip 5: Children should not be left in a
car alone, since the temperature in the vehicle may rise and cause heatstroke. ("Safety Tips", 2016)
Those children under the age of 13 should ride in the
backseat. There are rules and regulations that are supposed to be followed for
children’s safety. According to the North Dakota Children Health and Government
children under the age of at least 2 years old are said to sit in rear-facing
safety seats. As soon as they turn 2 years of age, they may be moved to
forward-facing safety seats until they are 40-100 pounds. After a child, has
grown out of a harness, they may move to a booster seat if they are at least 40
pounds and are the age of four. Lastly, children are allowed to use seat belts if
it fits over the child’s body correctly.
Here is a video from Safe Kids World Wide on installing a
car seat.
A
few more tips for making sure car seats are used appropriately from Safe Kids
World Wide are:
-
Inch test- This is done by giving a good
tug by the base of the where the seat belt goes through. You are looking to see
if it moves more than an either side to side or front to back. https://youtu.be/gnJGWD0mDXk
-
Both rear and forward facing- use the car’s
seat belt or the latch system to make sure the car seat is lock in place. (Don’t
use both at the same time though)
-
Be sure to check the car seat labels for
the child’s age, weight and height restriction.
-
Lastly, know the full crash history report
if it is a used car seat.
(Safety Tips, 2015)
Many parents can be very busy and
carpooling may be a must. There are many safety procedures adults need to take
into consideration when planning a carpool. The North Dakota Children Health
and Government has posted a Carpool safety list, which is the following:
·
Think about reliable parents to
participate in the pool. Also think about the maintenance of vehicles, criminal
backgrounds, discipline, timeliness and insurance.
- · Go over all the safety rules with each of the children being transported
- · Emergency contacts for everyone is a must
- · Make sure you plan ahead and have enough seat belts for each child.
- · Any children 13 and younger should sit in the back
- Safety seats should be used for children
- Children under the age of 7 legally have to ride in a car seat or booster through the state of ND
- · Lap and shoulder belts are the safest
- · Drop-off and pick-up locations needs to be planned carefully
North Dakota Department of Health.
(2011). Retrieved February 26, 2017, from
Safety Tips. (2016). Retrieved March
06, 2017, from
months/field_risks/carseat?gclid=Cj0KEQiAlsrFBRCAxcCB54XElLEBEiQA_ei0DPldmR
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