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Are Your Child Passengers Safe?
If you
regularly carry young passengers in your auto, have you done
everything possible to make sure they're safe? Are you familiar
with what is involved in keeping children safe? If you're
not, read on for some tips on what's necessary to protect
the persons most vulnerable to injuries during car accidents.
Guidance
from Child Restraint Laws?
While
you might think it would be safe to comply with your state's
child safety or restraint law, you would be wrong in many
states. The National Safe Kids campaign recently reviewed
the states' child restraint laws and found them to be quite
inadequate. Based upon the guidelines of its own model child
restraint law, nearly every state inadequately protects its
children. How? In most instances state laws fall short in
the following areas:
- penalties
for restraint law violations are too low to encourage compliance
- rarely
establishes restraint guidelines for children older than
eight
- too
many exceptions to the restraint laws exist
- few
states offer child-seat loaner or assistance programs
How Are
Child Passengers Best Protected?
While you're likely familiar with the needs of infants and
toddlers, the focus of protection usually is upon a child's
age or whether a safety appliance exists. Here are some considerations
for protecting young auto
passengers:
Infants
- Should be in well-constructed and padded infant carrier
that should be located in a rear seat. Infant seats should
be of the type that is made to face the rear of the seat and
NOT the front of the passenger area. Infants must be protected
from the chance of being thrown forward into hard surfaces.
Toddlers
- Should be in well-constructed, padded child carriers that,
while facing forward, should only be placed in the rear passenger
seats. Again, this is to minimize the chance of hitting hard
surfaces (such as a dashboard or a windshield) and to avoid
air bags which are designed to protect adults.
Pre-schoolers
- May move from child carriers to well-constructed and padded
booster seats. The purpose of the boosters is to make sure
that the seat belts fit properly. As with child carriers,
these restraints should be installed in rear passenger seats.
Older
children - Around age 12, it should be safe to allow children
to ride in a car's front seat.
HOWEVER,
the age guideline assumes that a child has become tall and
heavy enough to be properly secured by regular restraints.
Be careful that shoulder straps either fit these children
properly or are properly tied-down so they don't represent
a hazard. Also, be realistic. Age is a secondary consideration
to body size. If a child's small build results in a poor fit
for regular seat belts and shoulder straps, continue placing
the child the rear with a secure seat belt.
A disconcerting
fact from the National Safe Kid campaign survey is the high
incidences of children who are allowed to ride in cars without
restraints or while improperly secured. This sad fact results
in hundreds of thousands of serious injuries and deaths. Every
passenger in a vehicle should use restraints that are appropriate
for his or her age and size. Don't depend on a law; depend
on what's needed to keep everyone safe.
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Martinson
Insurance
518 Hawthorne Street • PO Box 8
Alexandria, MN 56308
Phone: 320-763-6518
Toll Free: 800-757-6518
Fax: 320-763-5546
E-mail: agency@martinsoninsurance.com
Web: www.martinsoninsurance.com
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