Reduce Injuries Following Simple Children Vehicle Safety Tips
 
Reduce Car Accidents

We know you love your children, but so many people do not follow these simple car seat safety principles. By following these easy steps you can ensure your child is completely safe in your car. Just to get one thing straight, there is no one best child car safety seat. The best car safety seat is determined by various factors that you as the parent need to take into consideration. The seat needs to fit your child’s height and weight, as well as be able to fit properly in your car. Another common misconception is price. More expensive, does not always mean better quality or the seat is better safety wise.

The first step of proper car seat safety is of course determined by the age of your child. Any child that is under the age of twelve should be kept in the back seat of a vehicle. This is especially true if your car has passenger side air bags.

Infants should be in a rear facing car seat until they are at least one year old and twenty pounds. After they are twenty pounds they can be placed in a front facing car safety seat until they are around forty pounds or they have reached the maximum height recommended for the specific car safety seat in question.

Once a child reaches forty pounds, they should be placed on a belt positioning booster seat. The vehicle’s normal seat belt should not be used until they are around eighty pounds or 4ft 9 inches tall.

As always read your car’s owners manual as well and any manuals with the car safety seat.

Additional Car Safety Tips:

Most accidents that occur over a parent/child incident occur when a parent is trying to turn around and discipline their child. Think about it, you are taking you eyes as well as you mind off of the primary task at hand (driving) and exclusively focusing on your child who should be, and usually is behind you in the back seat of the vehicle.

To prevent this the best thing to do if you must discipline your child is to find a place to pull over and do so then, when you are not moving.

The following tips will help you keep your children safe while traveling in a car:

a) All children 12 and under must ride in the back seat. This is the safest place for children.

b) Infants should ride in rear-facing child safety seats until they’re at least 1-year-old and 20 pounds in weight. Never place a rear-facing seat in front of an airbag.

c) Once a toddler is over 1-year-old and between 20 and 40 pounds, they’re ready for a toddler or convertible seat.

d) After outgrowing toddler seats, children are still not ready for adult seat belts alone. To make seat belts fit snuggly, young children over 40 pounds, between 4 and 8-years-old and shorter than 4’9” need booster seats.

e) Make sure seat belts fit properly. They should be worn with the lap portion of the belt low and tight across the hips, and with the shoulder portion across the shoulders without cutting across the face and neck.

f) Did you know 90 percent of child safety seats aren’t used correctly? When in doubt, call your local police station to make an appointment with a certified child passenger safety technician who can tell you whether you are using yours right.

g) If you are taking your child in a taxi, call ahead and make sure the taxi has working seat belts. If the taxi company cannot provide a car seat, bring your own.

h) Do not purchase a secondhand child safety seat. If you do not know the history of the seat, assume it isn’t safe.

i) Always mail in the registration card that comes with your child safety seats so you’ll hear about potential product recalls. A list of recalled seats is available on the U.S. Office of Defects Investigation web site.

j) Do not use a car seat that has been in a motor vehicle crash.

k) Make sure to set a good example by wearing your seat belt too!