A study by the University of Iowa Injury Prevention Center shows many parents aren’t following state law when it comes to properly buckling in their kids in the car.
Center deputy directory John Lundell says the survey found parents did the best job with the youngest kids. Lundell says just over 98-percent of infants up to age one were found to be properly placed in a rear-facing carseat. Lundell says the kids who are out of the carseats posed a bigger problem. He says 16-percent of toddlers, age two through five, were not restrained at all.
Lundell says 25-percent of those age six to 10 were not restrained. Lundell says there are some very specific requirements for kids to be proper restrained. Lundell says the toddlers, age one through five, are required by Iowa law to be in a booster seat or child safety seat along with their seatbelt, so that the seatbelt fits properly across their chest and stomach.
Lundell says if the seatbelt isn’t in the right position, it can lead to greater injuries in an accident. Lundell says the survey found 23-percent of the toddlers did not have a booster seat or child safety seat required to give them a safe ride.
Lundell says it’s important for adults to pay as much attention to the toddlers as the very young kids when it comes to being properly secured in the car. Lundell says there’s a tendency for the toddler to resist the use of seatbelts or take them off, but Lundell says regardless of their age, everyone should be properly restrained.
The child passenger safety survey included over three-thousand children between October and December 2005 in 36 Iowa communities. For information on proper seating, car seat inspections and the state child passenger safety law, surf to:www.iowagtsb.org
Related web sites:
Information on child safety seat use