How Crashes Show More About Child Restraint

Child restraint laws have come to our attention one way or another, dramatically or peacefully, the law has convicted those who broke the law. The law varies depending on the state but, here in Nebraska car seat and seat belt restraint laws are very simple. Children zero to six years of age must sit in a car seat restraint. When the child turns seven years old, he/she will switch the backseat solely wearing a seat belt restraint. Lastly, the law requires every person in the back and front seat of the vehicle to wear a seat belt.

As citizens of Omaha, child restraint usage rate have dramatically improved since 1999 when only 56.1% of the children riding a motor vehicle were restrained. The Nebraska Office of Highway Safety (NOHS) released the figures that allow us to know where Nebraska stands as compared to the national level.

• NEBRASKA'S STAND ON CHILD RESTRAINT 

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA, 2006) said that an average of 93.5% of infants and children continued to be restrained with some type of child safety seat or seat belt. According to NOHS, Nebraska fell behind with an average of 88.6% during 2006. While regions of the country performed differently than others such as the West with a 93%, the Midwest at 82%. Northeast 81%, and 80% for the South. Furthermore, Nebraska improved since 2006 to an outstanding 96.8% in 2008 and finally lowering to 91.5% in 2010.

• CONSEQUENCES OF CHILD RESTRAINT

Unauthorized use of child restraint has several consequences, to what is worth not using one at all is merely immeasurable however, if you apply authorized practices on child restraint, safety measures. According to NOHS motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for children of every age from 3 to 14 years old. In the United States, an average of 4 children 0-14 years old were killed and 490 were injured every day in the United States in motor vehicle crashes during 2009. In that same year there were 627 reported Nebraska children 0-15 years old in all motor vehicle crashes. There were 219 of the total reported who were not wearing safety restraint as compared to 408 who did. Over half of the crashes involved a child without proper safety restraint. 

• CONVICTIONS

There were 1,628 child restraint convictions in 2009 and 95.1% child restraint use according to a survey conducted by the NOHS. Before convictions or surveys, parents have the chance to prevent the observant of safety from receiving the complete truthful information. Convictions do not mean every one without child restraint were caught, it’s simply a figure. A survey is conducted by asking these parents questions however, when they are involved in car accidents, there is no time to react or try to sneak in a seat belt click before the officer reaches the vehicle.

The NHTSA has proposed to conduct surveys evaluating drivers on “the levels of child restraint system use and misuse for children riding in passenger vehicles, and to examine whether the levels of use and/or misuse are related to any specific characteristics of the drivers, their passengers, the child restraints, and/or the vehicles. Previous studies have shown that there is a gap between recommended child restraint use and observed use.“

• THE GAP

Even though legislative actions have been taken to narrow the gap, since the Lower Anchors and Tethers for CHildren (LATCH) final rule in March, 1999 was established as a uniform child restraint attachment system that provides another, easier method of attaching a child restraint to the vehicle, the rate at which Nebraska improved since, was significant. We can thank this ruling for the increase in child restraint use rate since that same year. Hereby, the answer to achieve a perfect 100% child restraint use may lie in efficiency attaching or detaching the car seat ultimately easier for the driver to carry it in and out of the vehicle.

The restraint spectrum tells us about other chances than that of the driver’s characteristics as part of the gap, through history the release of motor vehicle injury and death information made available to our legislators have helped amend and specify laws. According to the American Journal of Public Health “Injury information made available to legislators in a useful format can influence the content of child restraint laws. For example, in 1979 Baker’ analyzed the age-specific death rates for child motor vehicle passengers under the age of 12. This information was useful in determining the age range to be covered by states’ laws.” The Department of Motor Vehicle should test citizens on driving, the laws that pertain to it, and techniques on how to contact legislators.  Let this be another characteristic that shines upon every driver.

• CONCLUSION

At last, the bottom line is reaching out for information. Know the laws in your city and state; acknowledge the different types of child restraint applicable to the different ages and body weight. Every parent should find out exactly what car seat is appropriate for their child. The life of our children lies beneath child restraint and the NHTSA provides helpful information that could save lives.