From the ArcaMax Publishing, Health & Fitness Newsletter:
http://www.arcamax.com/news/healthtips/s-367546-636461
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.