In these hard economic times, when parents have a new child on the way, it is often tempting to use a hand-me-down child safety seat or a used child seat purchased from a second hand store but, did you know that child safety seats have expiration dates?

It is a little known fact that child safety seats have expiration dates; usually six years from the manufacture date. There is a very good reason for this. Child safety seats are made from synthetic, petroleum based plastics and fabrics. While these materials are excellent for this purpose and make for a very strong and reliable child protective seat, they are subjected to a lot of harmful environmental factors that can weaken them over the years.

Most child seats remain in the car and internal temperatures inside the car in the summer can easily reach 130 to 140 degrees and over time, this can lead to a breakdown of the plastic materials. Exposure to the sun is also harmful. Synthetic fabrics, especially nylon don’t tolerate long periods of direct exposure to the sun very well. When exposed to the sun over long periods, the synthetic fabrics can become brittle and break; not something you want a safety belt to do.

Read more about: Summer Heat Warnings - Never Leave Children Alone in Cars

So, while a used seat may look perfectly fine, there may be damage that is too small to see that can grow over time. Your little passenger is too precious to take that chance. Most seats have the expiration date embossed in the plastic on the bottom of the seat. When considering a used car seat, check the expiration date and make sure that your child will have outgrown it before it expires.

Parents should also remember that children who outgrow the child safety seat should graduate into a booster seat until they are at least 4’9” tall. Lots of kids are graduated to seat belts too early and their small frames prevent the seat belt from fitting properly low over their hips. If the belt should rise up over their abdomen, they could be injured in a crash.

For more information on child safety seats and booster seats, visit the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety at: http://www.iihs.org/research/topics/child_restraints/default.html

For help in learning how to properly install and use a child seat, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has a web site that can direct you to a trained Child Passenger Safety Technician in your area who can teach you how to install your seat, answer any questions you may have, and give you additional information on child safety seats. To locate a Child Passenger Safety Technician, visit: http://www.nhtsa.gov/cps/cpsfitting/index.cfm

Labels: child safety, child safety seat, child safety seats, seat belt safety, seat belts

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.

In an article on this study in WebMD.com, Lorrie Walker, training manager and technical advisor for Safe Kids USA, an advocacy group was quoted as saying; "This study raises questions about how the child restraint was used,". She went on to say that "Federal motor vehicle safety standard 213 requires the buckle to release using between 9 and 14 pounds of pressure. It is often challenging for an adult to unbuckle the harness." She wondered if the buckle wasn't adequately locked in some of those cases.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that as many as three out of four parents aren’t installing their child safety seat correctly. If you have doubts about whether or not you are properly buckling the harness or whether or not the child safety seat is installed correctly, there is a service that you can use to get training and guidance on the proper use of a child safety seat. NHTSA has a website called the "Child Safety Seat Inspection Station Locator". In this site, you can plug in your state or zip code and find technicians who can show you how to properly install and use the child safety seat. These Child Passenger Safety Technicians receive training and certification based on a standardized nationally recognized curriculum.



Using the Child Safety Seat Inspection Station Locator, you can find a nearby Child Passenger Safety Technician, usually at your county's Department of Public Safety or the local police or fire department. You will need to make an appointment with the technician and allow about 20 minutes to complete the training. Expectant parents should schedule an appointment about three weeks before their child's due date. This is a free service.

You should remember also that child safety seats aren't just for babies and toddlers. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has determined that children are being graduated from child safety seats to seat belts too early. In small children, instead of resting low over their hips and pushing against their hip bones, the seat belt tends to ride up over their abdomen where it can cause internal injuries in a crash. Children who graduate out of child safety seats should move into a booster seat until they are at least 4'9" tall or anywhere from 9 to 11 years of age.

While talking about car seats, it is important to remember never to leave your child unattended in a car. Even when the outside temperature is cool, the temperatures inside a car can quickly rise up to more than 100 degrees on a sunny day. Kids and Cars.org estimates that, on average, 38 children die in hot cars each year from heat-related deaths after being trapped inside motor vehicles.

Labels: child safety, child safety seat

The Center for Disease Control in Atlanta has produced a study showing the cost of highway deaths in the United States and the figures are very high. The study looked crash data for 2005 and determined that the total cost from highway crash deaths in the United States for that year was $41 billion.

The study found that more than half of the highway deaths in the US occur in ten states; California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas.

• Texas ranked second with $3.50 billion in costs.
• Florida ranked third with $3.16 billion in costs.
• New York ranked seventh with $1.33 billion in costs.

The cost study only took medical and work loss costs into account; it didn’t include property damage, legal costs, insurance etc. The figures were compiled using the CDC’s Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS), which is an online, interactive system that provides reports of injury-related data. The work loss costs were based on the “total estimated salary, fringe benefits, and value of household work that an average person—of the same age and sex as the person who died—would be expected to earn over the remainder of his or her lifetime. “ Since young drivers are disproportionately affected in the total motor vehicle death rate, the total loss of potential work income for them over their lifetimes was much higher.

The CDC’s WISQARS system allows a user to generate a map of each individual state to view the motor vehicle death rate by county. One might think that the large cities and interstate highways would have the highest death rate but the maps support the fact that rural highways are the deadliest highways in America. Viewing the state maps by county, it is easy to see that the death rate in large urban areas is far lower than that for rural counties.

The highway death rate has fallen over the past several years and many attribute that to the economy and gas prices however, the CDC points to traffic safety initiatives such as seat belt laws, better child protective seats along with better education on their use, and graduated driver licensing laws for teens as having a much greater impact on the reduction of the death rate.

Labels: child safety seat, gdl laws, highway crash deaths, Highway Safety, seat belt law

In September, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recommended that states to pass more comprehensive child restraint laws to cover children up to eight years of age. The NTSB cited Florida, which only requires child restraints for children up to the age of three, as having the weakest child restraint laws in the nation. The NTSB also called on twenty one states to pass legislation requiring the use of booster seats.

Automobile crashes are the leading cause of death for children from age three to fourteen. In 2008, 297 children under the age of four lost their lives in motor vehicle crashes. Of those 297 children, 32% were totally unrestrained.
Parents could potentially be placing their children at risk while driving. A study conducted in 2002 by State Farm Insurance and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia added weight to previous studies showing that 83% of children are graduating from child safety seats to adult seat belts too early.

The problem lies in the different ways that seat belts fit around an adult's body compared to the way they fit around a child. When properly belted in, the seat belt should fit low over a vehicle occupant's hips. In a crash, the belt will provide restraint by pushing back against the relatively hard surface of the occupant’s hip bones. If the belt were to sit higher across the soft tissue of the occupant's abdomen, it could cause significant damage to internal organs and could, in severe crashes, actually cut into the occupant's abdomen. Seat belts on children, with their small frames, tend to ride high over the child’s abdomen. The 2002 study refers to this as the "Seat Belt Syndrome" in children. The seat belt syndrome has contributed to abdominal and spinal injuries in children. The studies found that children between the ages of 3 and 9 were at greatest risk of seat belt syndrome. The problem is compounded by the way shoulder harnesses fit over children. Instead of sitting properly over a child’s shoulder, the shoulder harness tends to ride across their neck and rub against their face causing many to place the shoulder harness behind them.

The answer to this problem is quite simple but, for some reason, the word isn’t getting around. The studies show that once children outgrow their child safety seats, they should graduate to a booster seat. Booster seats raise the child’s body to a position that allows the seat belt to ride low over their hips the way they are designed. Booster seats can also help to properly position the shoulder harness so that it provides maximum protection. The American Academy of Pediatrics published guidelines that say children should remain in booster seats until they are 4'9" in height or, on average, from 9 to 11 years of age. Their website also has guidelines on the proper use of child restraints from infants to teens.

In spite of campaigns by the insurance industry and guidance from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), only 13 states and the District of Columbia have passed booster seat laws that comply with federal guidelines. There are modified booster seat laws in 25 states and 12 states have no child restraint seat laws at all for children beyond 4 or 5 years of age.

When considering a booster seat for your child, remember that all booster seats are not created equally. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) conducted crash tests and published a list of the best and worst booster seats that are currently on the market. The IIHS website also has pictures showing how lap belts and shoulder harnesses should fit to provide maximum protection. The best seats provide proper height adjustment for the lap belt and keep the shoulder harness away from the abdomen and over the shoulder where they belong. The IIHS also has a list of state laws regarding child restraints.

It is critically important to remember that keeping a child restrained in an adult seat belt is better than no restraint at all. The word about booster seats is slowly getting around and more and more parents are using them every year but the percentage of children in booster seats is still far too low.

Labels: booster seat, booster seat laws, child restraint laws, child safety, child safety seat, child safety seats

On November 24th, a new law went into effect in New York that requires that all children under the age of 8 to be restrained in an appropriate child restraint system. This means that children under the age of 8 must be seated in an appropriate booster seat that allows the seat belt system to fit properly. This law is in response to several studies that showed that children were graduating to seat belts too early once they outgrew their child safety seats.

A study conducted in 2002 by State Farm Insurance and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia showed that 83% of children are graduating from child safety seats to adult seat belts too early. The problem lies in the different ways that seat belts fit around an adult's body compared to the way they fit around a child. When properly belted in, the seat belt should fit low over a vehicle occupant's hips. In a crash, the belt will provide restraint by pushing back against the relatively hard surface of the occupant's hip bones. If the belt were to sit higher across the soft tissue of the occupant's abdomen, it could cause significant damage to internal organs and could, in severe crashes, actually cut into the occupant's abdomen. Seat belts on children, with their small frames, tend to ride high over the child’s abdomen. The 2002 study refers to this as the "Seat Belt Syndrome" in children. The seat belt syndrome has contributed to abdominal and spinal injuries in children. The studies found that children between the ages of 3 and 9 were at greatest risk of seat belt syndrome. The problem is compounded by the way shoulder harnesses fit over children. Instead of sitting properly over a child's shoulder, the shoulder harness tends to ride across their neck and rub against their face causing many to place the shoulder harness behind them.

The answer to this problem is quite simple but, for some reason, the word has been slow in getting around. Booster seats raise the child's body to a position that allows the seat belt to ride low over their hips the way they are designed. Booster seats can also help to properly position the shoulder harness so that it provides maximum protection. The American Academy of Pediatrics published guidelines that say children should remain in booster seats until they are 4'9" in height or, on average, from 9 to 11 years of age. Their website also has guidelines on the proper use of child restraints from infants to teens.

In spite of campaigns by the insurance industry and guidance from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), there are only 21 states, including New York, that have passed child restraint laws in compliance with federal guidelines. Many states have no requirement for child restraint systems beyond the age of 4.

When considering a booster seat for your child, remember that all booster seats are not created equally. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) conducted crash tests and published a list of the best and worst booster seats that are currently on the market. The IIHS website also has pictures showing how lap belts and shoulder harnesses should fit to provide maximum protection. The best seats provide proper height adjustment for the lap belt and keep the shoulder harness away from the abdomen and over the shoulder where they belong.

For more information on proper placement and fitting of child safety seats, visit www.nysdmv.com. You can also visit www.safeny.com to find a child safety seat event or a list of permanent seat fitting stations. There are also online courses now available to educate drivers on the rules of the road and the latest defensive driving techniques.

Labels: child safety seat, driver education, driver safety, new york driving laws

Sunshine State Looks to Improve Seat Belt Usage Rate

Florida state officials are already beefing up compliance with a new seat belt law that does not go into effect until June 30.

Gov. Charlie Crist signed a bill May 6 that permits law enforcement to pull over a passenger vehicle if officers observe the driver or front seat passenger not wearing their seat belt. It replaces the current law, which allows officers to give tickets for not wearing a seat belt only after pulling over a driver for a separate offense, like speeding or a broken tail light.

Promoting even more seat belt awareness, the state's Click It Or Ticket campaign kicked off on Monday and runs through May 31.

While the two-week safety campaign is in effect, state and local police agencies are carrying out public awareness efforts and workshops to improve seat belt use rates and conduct training on child passenger safety and safety seat installation.

"The proper use of a safety belt is the single most important action one can take to increase the chances of surviving a vehicle crash," said Sgt. Chris Gonzalez, with the Collier County Sheriff's Office Traffic Safety Enforcement Bureau. "The Collier County Sheriff's Office is asking that every driver make certain all front and back seat passengers are properly buckled up. A simple click can be the difference between life and death."

According to the Florida Department of Transportation, at 92 percent, the seat belt compliance rate for Collier County is the highest in the state. In 2008, statewide seat belt usage was 79.1 percent, making it No. 35 in the nation and below the national average of 83 percent, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The five states with the highest of seat belt use rates have primary enforcement laws like the one just passed in Florida.

One Naples resident, Tom Contento, 55, is pleased with the law's passage.

"[My children's] safety is my biggest concern," said Contento. "I think safety is more important [than questions about personal freedom]."

A woman vacationing in Naples said it is a law that works well in her home state of Connecticut, where the seat belt usage rate was 88 percent in 2008.

"I don't have a problem with it being a law," said Lisa Masoud, 45. "They do spot checks every once in a while. It works pretty well. I think one of the reasons they do it is they can be funded by the federal government."

When Florida's new law goes into effect, the state will receive a $35 million federal grant allocated to states with primary enforcement laws. That money can be used to fund road projects.

The lure of that funding helped pass the bill this year after it died in at least seven consecutive earlier sessions. The state House of Representatives approved the bill by a 95-20 vote. It passed in the Senate by 33-4.

Did you know that courses are available to educate drivers on the rules of the road and the latest defensive driving techniques? Try one now!

Labels: child safety seat, florida traffic laws, seat belt, seat belt law, seat belt safety, teen seat belt use