Health & Fitness - Misuse of car seats linked to injury rate

ArcaMax Publishing > Lifestyles > Health & Fitness

Your email adddress is safe with us. View our Privacy policy.

Ergonomics Guide:

Save yourself eye strain and back pain with our guide to ergonomics.

The Funnies:

Get free jokes, comics, and more! See them all on
our funnies page

Games:

Fun online games, quizzes, hangman and more on the games page

Misuse of car seats linked to injury rate

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia (UPI) -- Misuse of safety seats and failure to use booster seats accounts for the high rates of Canadian child automobile deaths and injuries, researchers said.

Dr. Beth Bruce of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, says parents give many reasons why their school-age children aren't in booster seats, including "My son feels like a sissy," "I don't want to argue with her," "We're just going on a short trip," and "My child is too big."

"There are whole scenarios parents will give us," Bruce says in a statement. "But what we don't know is why those things convince them to put their children at risk."

Bruce says correct booster seat use reduces risk of injury by 70 percent and death by 90 percent, but a national 2006 Transport Canada study reported at least 70 percent of children ages 4 to 9 weren't in booster seats.

Children from birth to the age of 1 are safest in rear-facing child safety seats, children over the age of 1 and more than 22 pounds can be in a forward-facing car seat with a tether strap, but many children outgrow the forward-facing car seat at approximately 4 1/2 and need a booster seat, Bruce says.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International

This news arrived on: 06/23/2008

Share this Story