Safe Transportation of Children in Vehicles

by Allana Pinkerton, CPS Instructor/Caring for Kids in Cars, Inc., and Mike James/Sr. CPS Instructor

The number one killer of children under age 14 is a motor vehicle crash. Since most of these deaths are preventable, it is senseless for children to die in a crash because they were not properly secured in the vehicle. Here are a few tips to help your child come through a car crash without an injury. 

First and foremost, make sure you child’s carseat is installed correctly.  Children need to ride rear facing until they are over 1 year of age and over 20 pounds in weight. The child MUST meet both requirements before you can consider turning them around to a forward facing position.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children stay rear facing until they reach the rear facing weight limit of the child restraint. Actually, children are 71% safer than other buckled passengers when they are buckled and facing backwards. Consider this: Most crashes are head-on crashes. With this in mind, the back of the baby’s car seat protects the baby just as the vehicle seat protects you when you are hit in the rear during a crash.

The harness straps need to be 1 finger tight at the child’s collarbone and the plastic chest clip needs to be placed at armpit level. With the harness straps snug (1 finger tight) they hold the child in place and keep them in the carseat. The chest clip holds the straps together at armpit level and prevents them from slipping off the child’s shoulders.

Consider this: Your seatbelt sits low on your hips and across the center of your chest. It helps hold you back in the vehicle seat to keep you from being injured by the steering wheel or the dashboard.

Children should ride in a booster seat until they can sit properly in the seatbelt system. Consider their height and weight, not their age. The child must sit back in the vehicle seat with his knees bent at the front edge of the vehicle seat and his feet touch the floor of the vehicle. If your child cannot do all three of these steps then they are too small to fit the ADULT seatbelt system of the car properly. They can be severely injured of paralyzed by a poor fitting adult seatbelt. The booster seat positions the child so that the ADULT seatbelt system fits them like an adult.

Our motto is: The Child We Save Today, May Be the Child that Invents the Medicine that Could Save Many Lives tomorrow. Don’t take any chances with your child. Buckle them correctly during every car ride.