Car Seat Safety
Car Seat Safety
Sunshine Kids Radian XT Convertible Car Seat
In many parts of the world today you are compelled by law to use a child car safety seat when transporting a baby or young child in a vehicle but, whether the law requires you to do so or not, it simply makes sense to provide this protection for your child. Did you know, for example, that researchers at the Philadelphia Children’s Hospital have demonstrated that a properly fitted car safety seat can reduce a child’s risk of injury in an accident by just under sixty percent?
To show how the law can come into play here let’s take California as an example. Here drivers can be ticketed for carrying a child under the age of 6 and weighing less than 60 pounds if that child is not correctly restrained within the vehicle in accordance with the following guidelines:
1. Children under 12 months of age and less than 20 pounds in weight should be carried in a rear facing car safety seat fitted to one of the back seats of your car. Once the child reaches 12 months of age and passes the 20 pound mark they can ride in a front facing seat, which again should be fitted to one of the back seats.
2. At 4 years of age and a weight of at least 40 pounds a child can safely be carried on a car booster seat in the rear of your vehicle. The child must wear the vehicle’s shoulder and lap belts with the shoulder strap fitting over the child’s collar bone and the center of the chest and the lap belt fitting low and tightly over the hips.
3. Once your child has reached his sixth birthday and at least 60 pounds he can ride in the rear of the car without a booster seat and should be restrained with the car’s own safety belt.
There are of course exceptions to cover situations such as vehicles which do not have rear seats and vehicles with rear seats the design of which does not facilitate the fitting of a car safety seat. There are also provisions which allow a child with certain medical conditions to ride in the front seat where an appropriate restraint system is installed. Also, children under the age of 6 and weighing less than 60 pounds may be permitted to ride in the front seat where all of the rear seats are already occupied by children in accordance with state guidelines.
It is also worth noting that in a case where a child is permitted to ride in the front seat, if that child in under 12 month of age, less than 20 pounds and occupying a rear facing child safety seat then any airbag fitted for the front seat passenger must be deactivated.
We should all be aware of, and comply with, the law of course. However, when it comes to child safety parents really should not need the law to make them do what they already know is the right thing for their child. When the risk of suffering injury during a collision drops by one third when your child is restrained in the rear rather than the front seat of a vehicle why would any parent want to carry a child in the front seat? Safety is often nothing more than a matter of common sense.
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