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Car Seat Safety
There's More?!?!?
It
might seem overwhelming -- there is a lot to keep in mind. Here's some
additional information you'll need to install your child's seat. Our friends
from Project Safe Seat were kind enough to give us some of the basics:
For Those With Little
Ones
Most of us know that children who
are less than a year old must be rear-facing. Remember if you
have a child who is rear-facing, you must wait until the child
is AT LEAST one-year-old AND over 20 pounds.
Your child must meet both of those criteria
before you turn them around!! Parents seem so eager to turn
their children around too early. It is crucial that you wait
until your child is over the twenty pound minimum and is over a
year old. Why is facing the rear so important? According
to SafetyBelt Safe U.S.A. (www.carseat.org),
"Babies have heavy heads and fragile necks. The neck bones are
soft, and the ligaments are stretchy. If the baby is facing
forward in a frontal crash -- which is the most common and most
severe type -- the body is held back by the straps, but the head
is not. The head is thrust forward, wrenching the neck. Older
children and adults wearing safety belts may end up with
temporary neck injuries. But a baby's neck bones actually
separate during a crash, and the spinal cord can rip. It's like
yanking an electrical plug out of a socket by the cord and
breaking the wires."
If you have an infant carrier/car seat,
DON'T
leave the handle in the "carrying" position while using it in
the car as a car seat. Make sure you remember to move the handle
back to where it's locked in to the "car seat" position.
Winterizing Your
Child!?!?!?!?
When it starts turning colder we all start to bundle up in order
to stay warm. The problem is that when our children are all
bundled up, those extra clothes are compressible and when in a
wreck, that clothing becomes a barrier between the car seat
straps and our children. Lt. Jason Wells of the Lexington Fire
Department says, "Our overall goals are to make the seat as much
a part of the car as possible and to make the child as much a
part of the seat as we possibly can,". Naturally you don't want
your kids to get cold either. There are two things you can do.
One is to cover your child with a blanket and carry them out the
car and buckle them up in their regular clothes and then put
their coat on them once you've reached your destination. One
other suggestion is you can put their coat on and then get them
to the car. Once in the car, take off the coat and buckle them
and then put the coat back on once you are where you need to
be.
Does My Child
Still Need a Car Seat?
Here is one issue many parents
don't realize:
"Just because a child is 4, 5 or 6 (years), they still need the
added protection of a booster seat," says Sherri Anne Shuey also
of the Lexington Fire Department. Most parents think the
shoulder strap is the problem once their children are too big
for a "car seat". That is not the case. The real problem is
where the lap portion of the seatbelt hits their child. "If you
put a child in a seat that an adult sits in, the belt is going
to hit them in the stomach," says Shuey. A booster seat gives
your child the added height so that the both the shoulder and
lap belts are where they need to be to keep your child safe.
Booster Test
Most children need to
ride in a booster seat from about ages 4 to 8. Try this simple
test:
The 5-Step Test
1. Does the child sit all the way back
against the auto seat?
2. Do the child's knees bend comfortably at the edge of the auto
seat?
3. Does the belt cross the shoulder between the neck and arm?
4. Is the lap belt as low as possible, touching the thighs?
5. Can the child stay seated like this for the whole trip?
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If you answered "no" to any of
these questions, your child needs a booster seat to make
both the shoulder belt and the lap belt fit right for the
best crash protection. Your child will be more
comfortable, too!
* 5-step test
provided by
www.carseat.org
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For those in the
Central Kentucky
area who would
like to call the
Lexington Fire
Department to
make an
appointment to
have their seat
checked, call
(859) 455 - SEAT
(7328)
Remember, it
only
takes about 45
minutes. Isn't
it worth it? You
could be saving
your child's life. |
If You Are Still
in Doubt...
Again, the BEST way for you to know if you are installing your
child's seat properly is to make an appointment and have someone
who has been certified check your seat. What's even more
important, they should teach you how to install the seat so if
you ever need to remove the seat for whatever reason, you will
know how to put it back in your car. Also, make sure you use
BOTH the car seat manual and the manual for your car to install
your seat.
A Note on Airbags...
In order to know the best place to put
your car seat in your car, be aware of all the air bags
your vehicle has. Some of the newer cars have
side-impact air bags so it is crucial that you know where the
airbags are in your vehicle. Stephanie Strombrello, Executive
Director of SafetyBeltSafe U.S.A. says, "Passenger air bags kill
children when 1)they are placed in rear-facing safety seats in
front or 2)they are allowed to sit unrestrained or restrained
loosely or only at the hips in front. The air bag must emerge
very quickly to provide protection to properly restrained
passengers/drivers—at 110-200 mph. The risk comes from the
impact with the uninflated bag or its cover. A rear-facing seat,
like all inside the vehicle in a frontal crash, the only type in
which such an air bag inflates, moves forward and down; the
uninflated bag strikes the back of the safety seat with such
force that the child is brain dead within those few seconds,
even in a minor collision. With unrestrained children, the force
of the pre-crash braking will thrust them forward so that they,
too, are in the path of the uninflated air bag."
Strombrello has this to say about side air bags: "With side air
bags, the message is murkier. However, ANYONE who lies on the
bag location is at risk both from side impacts—one is thrust
toward the intruding object—and the emerging bag. Side air bags
should not be a risk to properly restrained children in safety
seats since they cannot lie on the bag location. Many
vehicles are now using safety curtains which do not emerge from
a 'bag' location. The front seat location provides about 30%
lower levels of protection; if children remain in the back until
they begin to drive, they will do much better in the vast
percentage of crashes. The back seat is the better seat."
Remember!!!!
Make sure you periodically check the seatbelt that holds
your child's seat for tightness. After time, the seat
belt can become loose.
We'd like to
thank The Lexington Firefighters who took time out of their day
to spend with us.
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