Red!: National Child Passenger Safety Week, September 19-25, 2010

Leave it to Florida to have some of the most relaxed laws in the country concerning the use of child safety seats in vehicles. With the national Child Passenger Safety Week right around the corner, I thought this would be a perfect time to research and share some information on current safety regulations for children riding in vehicles.

Following the bare minimum laws set forth by the State of Florida leaves most young children vulnerable and under-protected. Just because Florida law says that your 4-year-old can ride in any seat in the car with just the adult shoulder/lap belt does not mean that it is what's safest for your child! I think most parents these days are more than familiar with the guidelines that state that infants should ride rear-facing until they are at least one year old and weigh a minimum of 20 pounds. Many child safety groups advocate for extended periods of riding rear-facing, and cite many studies which back up their beliefs that this provides enhanced safety for kids. The problems arise with the gross lack of readily-available information available concerning appropriate vehicle for children over one year old.

I began my search for information on the website of my local law enforcement agency: The Escambia County (FL) Sheriff's Department. On their fancy website I found information about gang prevention, crime statistics, neighborhood watches, beach safety, the annual 5k run, instructions on how to deposit funds into inmate spending accounts, and even a whole page of artwork created by inmates in our County Jail. What I didn't find, anyplace on the entire site, was any article referencing vehicle safety for kids or child car seats. Good job, Escambia County!

Luckily, continued searching came up with a number of other reliable sources of information on child vehicle safety. If you have children, please take a few minutes to look through the informational links listed below:

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration provides great

information on keeping children safe in your vehicle with the use of

car seats as well as other child vehicle safety information on this webpage.

As your child approaches school age, they may be starting to outgrow

their front-facing baby seats and be ready to make the move to a

booster seat. Every year, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety

tests and rates several models of child seats. The site for their 2010

Booster Seat evaluations tends to load rather slowly, but provides a

great resource for parents shopping for a booster seat by showing

which seats to buy and which to avoid based on performance.

EliteCarseats.com has complied this comparison chart of child car seat

laws from state to state. Find your state on this list to see what the

law requires you to do (the bare minimum) to keep your child safe.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has complied

this fact sheet with some scary-but-true real statistics showing the

numbers of children hurt or killed in vehicle accidents each year, and

reflecting the positive impact of child safety seats and responsible drivers.

In addition to the information given on these sites, the following tips are important to remember when considering the safety of your child:

Never drink while driving or drive after drinking.
If you're texting while driving, your eyes aren't watching the road as they should be.
It is both illegal and unsafe to allow children (or anyone, really) to ride in the bed of a pick-up truck.
If you insist on taking your child for a ride on your motorcycle (I can't imagine doing this myself), please at least consult the tips and links in this article. But your child will always be safer strapped securely into a vehicle with sides and a roof.
If you can pinch the fabric of the belts on your child's car seat, they are too loose. Period.
Never put anything padded (such as pillows, blankets, or padded coats) between your child and their car seat. In the event of a crash, these padded items will compress under your child's weight which could allow your child to slip free of their belt/straps and be thrown around inside your vehicle. On cold days, warm up the heat before putting your child into the car. Put a blanket over them after strapping them in, or strap them in and put their coat on them backwards in the seat.
If you're ever in a vehicle accident with your child in the car, take them immediately to the E.R. to be checked out, every time.....no exceptions.....even if they look and act fine. Sometimes, injuries can take a while to produce symptoms, and it's always better to be on the safe side when your child's health (or life) is at stake.
Never skimp on safety, even for "short" rides. If your child is in the car, they should be properly secured in their car seats, regardless of how far you're going. Accidents can happen anywhere.
Any time your child will be riding in someone else's vehicle, with or without you, check ahead of time to make sure that they will be properly secured in that vehicle with the necessary car seat/seat belt combo.

We, as parents, have to make a commitment to the safety of our children. You chose to have a child, and you owe it to them to keep them safe in your vehicle.