Motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of childhood injury or death. To help ensure that children are properly buckled up, a free Car Seat Clinic, with trained technicians available, will be held at the Indian Chicano Health Center, 5155 S. 36th St., from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday, June 22.
Families should come with their children, in their vehicles, for personalized information on how to best protect their children from injury in vehicle accidents.
The event will be “hands on” with in-car inspections of existing child restraints and assistance in the installation of new equipment. In a South Omaha survey this year, 65 percent of the children observed in motor vehicles were improperly restrained. Information will be provided in Spanish and English.
The Car Seat Clinic is co-sponsored by the Indian Chicano Health Center, the Safety & Health Council of Greater Omaha, Inc. and the Omaha Trauma Centers’ Injury Prevention Office, which includes UNMC, NHS and Creighton University Medical Center.
Car seat facts
- The single greatest risk factor for death and injury among child passengers is riding unrestrained or improperly restrained.
- Place all children in the proper child restraint system for their age and size.
- Infants ride in rear facing car seats until they are at least one year old and weigh at least 20 pounds.
- Children who are at least 1 year old and weigh between 20 and 40 pounds ride in forward facing child safety seats.
- Children over 40 pounds ride in belt positioning boosters until the adult lap and shoulder belts fit properly, touching the lap and sitting on the shoulder. (About age 8)
- Properly installed child safety seats reduce the risk of death in a crash by 71 percent for infants and 54 percent for toddlers.
- Misuse is common. An estimated 85 percent of children who are placed in car seats and booster seats are improperly restrained. This includes using the wrong seat for the child’s age and size – for example, placing a baby under the age of one or under 20 pounds in a forward-facing seat, not securing the seat tightly in the vehicle or not securing the child correctly in the seat.
- According to the upcoming Nebraska State law all children under the age of six must be properly restrained in child car seats. Safety organizations recommend safety seats up to the age of 8 and a weight of 80 pounds because young children are not large enough for seat belts. The lap belt and shoulder strap would not be in a proper position and instead of protecting the child in a crash would severely injure them. Children need to be tall enough for the knees to bend over the edge of the seat when the child’s back is resting firmly against the seat back (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Feb. 25, 2001).
- If all children 14 and under were properly restrained, it is estimated that more then 600 lives could be saved and 182,000 injuries prevented each year.
- If the driver is buckled up, it is more likely that the child will be.
- The total annual cost of motor vehicle occupant death and injury is more than $11 billion for children 14 and under.