|
RoadSmart Report | January, 2005
Booster seats are best as small children grow
Most parents are very careful to ensure their child travels in
a child safety seat when they are small. But as the child gets older,
many parents tend to move their child into a seat belt too early.
Motor vehicle crashes continue to be the leading cause of death
and serious injury to children of all ages, especially to those
age four to nine. According to SafeKids Canada, the majority of
children in this age group are riding in seat belts, which puts
them at an increased risk for serious injuries in a crash.
Seat belts are designed to fit the bodies of adults and because
of that, children generally don’t properly fit into a seat
belt until they are at least nine years old, if not older.
Children who are too small for seat belts are more vulnerable
to the range of serious injuries that can happen to the internal
organs and spine when a seat belt doesn’t fit the child properly.
However, the risk of serious injuries or even death can be significantly
reduced if parents use a booster seat for their small child. Unfortunately,
lack of booster seat use is a leading issue identified in Saskatchewan
child restraint surveys. In the 2002 survey, less than one out of
five children weighing between 18 and 27 kgs was properly restrained
in a booster seat.
“When children grow out of forward-facing child restraints,
they need to be put in booster seats. And they should stay in the
booster seat until they are big enough to fit properly in an adult
seat belt,” says Shannon Ell, SGI’s Supervisor of Traffic
Safety Promotion.
A booster seat serves as a simple safety devise that ensures a
seat belt fits your child correctly. Research shows that there is
a 70 per cent reduction in injuries when using a booster seat than
with a seat belt alone.
If you’re not sure if your child should be in a booster seat
or in a regular seat belt, try answering these five questions about
your child sitting in a vehicle using a regular seat belt:
- Can your child sit comfortably with his or her back against
the vehicle’s seat back?
- Do your child’s knees bend comfortably at the edge of
the vehicle’s seat?
- Is the lap portion of the seat belt as low as possible, touching
their thighs?
- Does the shoulder portion of the seat belt cross the shoulder
between the neck and arm?
- Can your child stay comfortably seated like this for the whole
trip?
If you answered “no” to any of these questions, your
child should be in a booster seat. If your child moves into a seat
belt too early, the seat belt won’t fit them, and won’t
protect them correctly. They may slip out of the buckled seat belt
in a crash. Or they might receive injuries in a crash from the seat
belt itself because it is resting across the wrong parts of your
child’s body.
The best way to ensure your child is travelling safely is to visit
a free child seat safety clinic. It takes about 20 minutes and trained
volunteers will assist you in determining whether your child should
be using a booster seat.
You can find a list of upcoming clinics on SGI’s web site
at www.sgi.sk.ca.
Contact:
Shannon Ell
Supervisor, Traffic Safety Promotion
SGI
Regina
(306) 775-6179
|
