January 5, 2010
Car seat confusion?
New research may leave some asking, ‘What’s a parent to do?’
By Heather Hollingsworth
Associated Press
January 05 2010
FAIRWAY, Kan. - Anne Epperson thought little of it when she flipped her daughter’s convertible car seat around so she could face forward after her first birthday.
But if car seat advocates get their way, parents like Epperson will be delaying the switch, possibly for years.
The American Academy of Pediatrics is revising recommendations that they hope will clear up confusion over how long children should spend riding rear facing in car seats and make them safer in the process.
Some experts, citing a much-touted 2007 study, say tots are being put at risk switching to the forward-facing position at 1 year of age and 20 pounds, currently the minimum guideline from the pediatrics group and the National Transportation Highway Safety Administration.
That’s because the extreme forces in some frontal crashes can jerk the heads of forward-facing children away from their immature bodies, creating a risk of spinal cord injuries. Rear-facing children are safer because their entire backs absorb the force of the crash.
The issue becomes confusing because both groups also advise that children are safer if they remain rear facing until the upper height and weight limit of their car seats. Many seats top out at 35 pounds in the
rear-facing position, a weight many children don’t reach until somewhere between their third and fourth birthdays.
It’s rare in the U.S. for children to remain rear facing that long, although several countries require their youngest passengers to ride rear facing until they are 4 or 5 years old and 55 pounds.
The issue has attracted growing attention since a 2007 article in the journal Injury Prevention showed that U.S. children are five times less likely to be injured in a crash between their first and second birthdays if they are rear facing.
“We rarely, if ever, see spine injuries in children in rear-facing car seats,” said Dr. Marilyn J. Bull, the contributing pediatric researcher in the study. “We will see head injuries or we will see a few other injuries, but the vast majority of serious injuries occur when children are forward facing.”
The AAP is still discussing how it is going to revise the recommendations.
Dr. Dennis Durbin, who is leading the effort to update the group’s policy on child passenger safety, said the emphasis will be more on remaining rear facing to the upper weight limit of the seat. The academy is hoping to introduce the new guidelines late this year.
Durbin said he is well aware of the research and said one of the goals with the revision is to reorder the policy and “really state what the ideal is.”
That’s good news to safety advocates.
“When it is written one year and 20 pounds, parents don’t pay attention to the rest,” complained Pam Holt, the previous chairwoman of the National Child Passenger Safety Board and the trauma prevention coordinator at St. John’s Hospital in Springfield, Mo.
Count Epperson among the confused parents. The 35-year-old said she doesn’t recall getting advice to keep her 23-month-old daughter or 3-year-old daughter rear facing longer.
“I’ve read a lot of books, but I’ve never heard that,” Epperson said as she picked her daughters up from a church day care in the Kansas City suburb of Fairway, Kan. “I had no idea.”
Pediatricians get some of the blame, said Dr. Benjamin Hoffman, part of an American Academy of Pediatrics committee that helps educate parents and doctors about injury prevention. The Albuquerque, N.M., pediatrician said some are still promoting old guidelines that say children must be turned forward at a year.
Hoffman, also a certified car seat technician, came across a mother recently whose pediatrician had given her that old advice, and she balked when he suggested she keep her 1-year-old son in the rear-facing position.
“I don’t care what you think,” she told Hoffman. “You aren’t my pediatrician.”
Stories like these make activists shake their heads. Motor vehicle crashes are the single leading cause of death for U.S. children, claiming an average of about four lives a day. Hoffman said it is tragic that “people are not operating on the best information they possibly could.”
“The bottom line is that in a crash, a child who is rear facing is going to have all the crash forces spread over their entire back, from the tops of their head to the tips of their toes,” Hoffman said. “And spreading all that force out over such a wide area significantly decreases the risk of injury.”
Experts said part of the problem is that parents often have viewed switching their children to the forward-facing position as a rite of passage.
“It’s like graduating from preschool into kindergarten,” Hoffman said. “They view it as a good thing. What we need to do is work on changing people’s attitudes so that they recognize that every step you make from rear facing to forward facing to booster, you lose some safety, and that people should switch only when absolutely necessary. It’s not necessarily a negative step but neither is it a positive step.
“And the fact of the matter is the kids don’t know any different. And if our first priority was to keep the kids as safe as possible, it would be a no-brainer.”
Anne Epperson unbuckles her daughter Sydney, 2, from her car seat while Madeline, 3, waits her turn at their home in Westwood, Kan. Many parents find themselves confused by new car seat research that suggests children should remain in rear-facing car seats much longer than the one year of age or 20-pound benchmark long accepted by officials. Associated Press
September 1, 2009 - PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 9/1/09
CONTACT: J Michele Laberge 802-777-0207 (cell)
Governor’s Highway Safety Program Urges Parents and Caregivers to Get Their Child Safety Seats Inspected
Waterbury, VT -- Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for children age 3 to 6 and 8 to 14. In 2007, 6,532 passenger vehicle occupants 14 and younger were involved in fatal crashes. That’s why the Governor’s Highway Safety Program is urging all parents and caregivers to attend the “National Seat Check Saturday” event on September 12, 2009. As part of Child Passenger Safety Week (September 12-19) Cody Chevrolet, the Governor’s Highway Safety Program and Vermont Safe Kids will sponsor a Safety Seat and Seat Belt checkpoint with certified technicians available to provide on-site child safety seat inspections and education from 9:00 – 1:00 at the parking lot at the end of the Berlin Mall.
“It’s the responsibility of every parent and caregiver to make sure their children are safely restrained – every trip, every time,” said Michele Laberge, Child Passenger Safety Program Manager. “We are urging everyone to get their child safety seats inspected and have children 8-12 checked to be sure seat belts fit properly. When it comes to the safety of a child, there is no room for mistakes.”
In addition to Seat Check Saturday, Vermont Fitting Stations in many areas of the state will be open throughout the week to assist parents. Vermont Law Enforcement will pay special attention to see that children are riding safely.
For maximum child passenger safety parents and caregivers should refer to the following 4 Stages of Car Seat Safety guidelines for determining which restraint system is best suited to protect children based on age and size:
- For the best possible protection keep infants in the back seat, in rear-facing child safety seats, as long as possible up to the height or weight limit of the particular seat. At a minimum, keep infants rear-facing until at least age 1 and at least 20 pounds. Facing backward longer is much safer for an infant or toddler.
- When children outgrow their rear-facing seats (at least age 1 and at least 20 pounds) they should ride in forward-facing child safety seats, in the back seat, until they reach the upper weight or height limit of the particular seat (usually around age 4 and 40 pounds).
- Once children outgrow their forward-facing seats (usually around age 4 and 40 pounds), they should ride in booster seats, in the back seat, until the vehicle seat belts fit properly. Seat belts fit properly when the lap belt lays across the upper thighs and the shoulder belt fits across the chest (usually at age 8 – 12 or when they are 4’9” tall).
- When children outgrow their booster seats, (usually at age 8-12 or when they are 4’9” tall) they can use the adult seat belts in the back seat, if they fit properly (lap belt lays across the upper thighs and the shoulder belt fits across the chest).
Remember: All children younger than 13 should ride in the back seat.
To locate VT Fitting Stations or to make an appointment for a safety seat or seat belt check during Child Passenger Safety Week please visit www.BESEATSMART.org or call 1-888-VMT-SEAT.
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September 12-19, 2009: Vermont Marks National Child Passenger Safety Week
Vermont Urges Parents to Be Seat Smart and Attend A Seat Check Event
As part of National Child Passenger Safety Week (Sept. 12-19, 2009), the Vermont Governor’s Highway Safety Program (GHSP) is urging parents to make sure that their children are properly buckled up in the family vehicle. The focus of this year’s effort in Vermont is making sure parents of tweens – 8- to 12-year-olds – are aware of whether their children still need to be in a booster seat to be safe.
September 1, 2009: Be Seat Smart ads on the air
Most Vermonters do not know that a 7-year-old riding in a car should be in a booster seat.
That finding was among results revealed in a state survey conducted by Macro International for the Governor’s Highway Safety Program (GHSP). The study, conducted in June, polled 400 Vermonters about their awareness and understanding of Vermont’s child passenger safety law.
The Vermont GHSP is today launching a statewide public education campaign to raise awareness of the law, which was passed in 2004.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 9/8/09
CONTACT: J Michele Laberge
241-5503
Governor’s Highway Safety Program Urges Parents and Caregivers to
Get Their Child Safety Seats Inspected
Waterbury, VT – That’s why the Governor’s Highway Safety Program is urging all parents and caregivers to attend the “National Seat Check Saturday” event on September 12, 2009. As part of Child Passenger Safety Week (September 12-19) Cody Chevrolet, the Governor’s Highway Safety Program and Vermont Safe Kids will sponsor a Safety Seat and Seat Belt checkpoint with certified technicians available to provide on-site child safety seat inspections and education from 9:00 – 1:00 at the parking lot at the end of the Berlin Mall.
“It’s the responsibility of every parent and caregiver out there to make sure their children are safely restrained – every trip, every time,” said Michele Laberge, Child Passenger Safety Program Manager. “We are urging everyone to get their child safety seats inspected and have children 8-12 checked to be sure seat belts fit properly. When it comes to the safety of a child, there is no room for mistakes.”
In addition to Seat Check Saturday, Fitting Stations in many areas of the state will be open throughout the week to assist parents. Vermont Law Enforcement Teams will also pay special attention for children riding unsafely.
In 2007, among children under 5, an estimated 358 lives were saved from the use of child safety seats and booster seats. If all children under the age of 5 were restrained, an additional 71 children would have been saved.
For maximum child passenger safety parents and caregivers should refer to the following 4 Stages of Car Seat Safety guidelines for determining which restraint system is best suited to protect children based on age and size:
- For the best possible protection keep infants in the back seat, in rear-facing child safety seats, as long as possible up to the height or weight limit of the particular seat. At a minimum, keep infants rear-facing until at least age 1 and at least 20 pounds. Facing backward longer is much safer for an infant or toddler.
- When children outgrow their rear-facing seats (at least age 1 and at least 20 pounds) they should ride in forward-facing child safety seats, in the back seat, until they reach the upper weight or height limit of the particular seat (usually around age 4 and 40 pounds).
- Once children outgrow their forward-facing seats (usually around age 4 and 40 pounds), they should ride in booster seats, in the back seat, until the vehicle seat belts fit properly. Seat belts fit properly when the lap belt lays across the upper thighs and the shoulder belt fits across the chest (usually at age 8 – 12 or when they are 4’9” tall).
- When children outgrow their booster seats, (usually at age 8-12 or when they are 4’9” tall) they can use the adult seat belts in the back seat, if they fit properly (lap belt lays across the upper thighs and the shoulder belt fits across the chest).
Remember: All children younger than 13 should ride in the back seat.
To locate VT Fitting Stations or to make an appointment for a safety seat or seat belt check during Child Passenger Safety Week please visit www.BESEATSMART.org or call 1-888-VMT-SEAT.
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UPDATE:
DOT 57-09 |
Contact: Maureen Knightly |
U.S. DOT Announces New Consumer Program for Child Safety Seats
The U.S. Department of Transportation announced today that it will create a new consumer program to help parents and caregivers find a child seat that fits in their vehicle. The new program is the result of a comprehensive review ordered by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to improve child passenger safety and Federal child seat standards.
Secretary LaHood also ordered the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to develop a new side impact safety standard for car seats. Side impact crashes account for one-third of all highway deaths among children under thirteen years old.
The internal review found that current standards, which require child seats to withstand forces that are more severe than 99.5 percent of real-world crashes, are effective. However, Secretary LaHood urged NHTSA to do better.
“Infants and children are our most precious cargo,” said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “We need to constantly improve our track record and help parents to choose a child seat that fits in their vehicle.”
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration task force, which reviewed child safety regulations, was comprised of a team of 30 experts. The team found that while current standards offer a high degree of protection, the agency should consider adding a first ever side-impact standard for child safety seats. It also recommended research on future improvements to the current frontal impact standard.
NHTSA will institute a new program beginning with the 2011 model year to make it easier for parents to choose child safety seats. Car manufacturers will recommend specific seats in various price ranges that fit for individual vehicles. Car manufacturers including Nissan and others in Europe already provide similar recommendations.
The review also found that half of all children between the ages of zero to seven years of age, who were killed in motor vehicle crashes, were not in child safety seats.
“A child safety seat cannot do its job if it’s not used at all,” said Secretary LaHood. “Parents and caregivers need to make sure their children are buckled up properly and child seats are installed correctly.”
