News

Child Passenger Safety Week / Seat Check Saturday

09/05/2011

Child Passenger Safety Week is coming up September 18 - 24 and there are a few issues to be aware of as we think about how to best protect the most precious cargo of all. A small but interesting study by the Yale School of Medicine's Department of Pediatrics revealed that large number of children are unbuckling themselves from their child safety seat while the car is in motion, making their risk of injury in a crash up to three and a half times greater. What is remarkable is that some of those children who unbuckle themselves are as young as 12 months old.

According to the Yale press release, "The team found that 75% of children who self-unbuckle were age three and under, with an age range of 12 to 78 months. Unbuckling was reported as early as 12 months of age and was more common in boys than girls. Of the children self-unbuckling, 43% did so while the car was in motion. Twenty-nine percent of children who unbuckle are in a five-point restraint and do so more commonly from the chest buckle. The most common parental response to self-unbuckling while the car was in motion was "pull over, reprimand, and re-buckle the child."

If you, as a parent or grandparent, find your toddler unbuckling their seat belt, don't try to deal with it while the car is in motion. The safest possible action is to slow, find a place to pull over as quickly as possible and then, reprimand and re-buckle your child; trying to deal with the situation while the car is in motion puts both of your lives at risk.

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