LITTLE ROCK — Let’s say you’re Jane Q. Reader - responsible parent of two toddlers and a 10-year-old - all of whom you expect to come hustle bustle down the stairs any minute now calling for breakfast and pleading for help finding their shoes.
First comes a healthful breakfast, then everybody gets dressed, and, finally, it’s off to day care and school and work. The kids are safely strapped into the car seats you know are correctly installed because you read the manufacturer’s instructions and were super careful to get the job done just right.
Chances are you’re wrong. Those seats probably are not installed correctly, or the harnesses aren’t adjusted right, or you’re just plain using the wrong seats.
Or, maybe you did get it right. Some (a distinct minority) do. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 75 percent of all car seats are improperly installed.
Even so, the use of car seats is credited by the agency with saving a lot of lives. Its 2008 report “Traffic Safety Facts: Children” said: “Child safety seats reduce the risk of fatal injury by 71 percent for infants and by 54 percent for toddlers in passenger cars.”
Still, a lot of car seats aren’t protecting their charges as well as parents think they are.
Even with the best intentions, a surprising number of parents make mistakes puttingthe seats in their car. The best way to know whether you’ve done it right is to have your work checked out by a pro - a certified child passenger safety technician.
CHECK IT OUT
The technicians have 28 to 32 hours of training before they are certified by Safe Kids Worldwide, a nonprofit that worked with the traffic safety agency to create the curriculum for the certification course. Technicians must be recertified every two years, according to Julie K. Prom of Indianapolis, a technician instructor who has worked professionally in the field for 24 years.
Betsey Mowery of Little Rock is another expert. She is project coordinator for Safe from the Start, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences’ program that educates patients about proper car seat selection and use. She trains others in car seat inspection too; more than 400 UAMS staff members have taken the four-hour training so far.
Drivers who’d like their child car seats inspected can check our accompanying story for sites or call local hospitals, police orfire departments. Most have someone who is certified to check seats. And it’s a safe bet that they’ll be delighted to make you an appointment. People who work in this field, many as volunteers, are passionate about child safety.
Like Michael Eggleston, a Fayetteville chiropractor who has treated thousands of car crash survivors - many of them children who weren’t restrained properly. With his wife, Blythe, a certified technician, he often speaks to groups about auto safety.
“The number one way that kids get harmed and killed is in auto accidents,” he said. Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention back him up.
“There is a need for people to be educated about the importance of these seats and how to [install them] correctly,” he adds.
IT’S THE LAW
Each state makes its own laws regarding child passenger restraints. Arkansas Code Annotated 27-34-104 says:
“(a) Every driver who transports a child under fifteen (15) years of age in a passenger automobile, van, or pickup truck, other than one (1) operated for hire, which is registered in this or any other state, shall provide while the motor vehicle is in motion and operated on a public road, street, or highway of this state for the protection of the child by properly placing, maintaining, and securing the child in a child passenger restraint system properly secured to the vehicle and meeting applicable federal motor vehicle safety standards in effect on January 1, 1995.
“(b) A child who is less than six (6) years of age and who weighs less than sixty pounds (60 lbs.) shall be restrained in a child passenger safety seat properly secured to the vehicle.
“(c) If a child is at least six (6) years of age or at least sixty pounds (60 lbs.) in weight, a safety belt properly secured to the vehicle shall be sufficient to meet the requirements of this section.”
All of which means that children 6 to 15 years old must wear seat belts whether riding in the front or back seats. Children under age 6 or 60 pounds must be secured in an appropriate child seat.
Some argue that Arkansas law, and that of many other states, doesn’t go far enough.
One of Mowery’s problems with the law is that it doesn’t require people to keep putting their children in a rear-facing seat at least until they’re 24 months of age.
She points out that in 2008 the American Academy of Pediatrics checked the statistics showing how children in front-facing vs. rear-facing seats fare in real-world crashes. It found that children under age 2 who were riding in rear-facing seats during an auto accident were 75 percent less likely to die or sustain serious injury compared to children riding in front-facing seats.
The findings prompted a recommendation that pediatricians tell parents that children should be “kept facing the rear to the highest weight allowed for their car seat.”
Mowery says that if parents understood how much safer their children are in rear-facing seats, they wouldn’t be in such a rush to switch to frontfacing.
“They don’t know, No. 1, that most crashes are frontal. When a seat is installed rearfacing, the back of the child safety seat supports the head, neck and the spinal cord.
“Twenty-five percent of the [baby’s] mass is in the head. When [the safety seat] is turned around what part of the body is not buckled up?
“The head.”
She understands that parents are well-meaning, but says they are not thinking about physics of a vehicle accident. When the baby is forward-facing and the vehicle is in a crash, the infant’s head usually continues moving forward, putting strain on the neck and the spinal column.
A common analogy that supporters of rear-facing seats use likens young children’s proportionally large head to a bowling ball and their delicate necks and spinal columns to a straw.
“Rear-facing protects the parts we cannot fix - the brain and the spinal cord. If legs break, we can fix that,” she says.
Prom agrees that children should face the rear longer than the 1 year and 20 pounds criteria often cited even by organizations like the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (see accompanying story).
FINDING THE RIGHT SEAT
One of the most common errors parents make is picking the wrong seat for their child. To determine what kind of seat to buy rear-facing or front-facing (some models can convert to both positions) or booster - a child’s weight and torso height must be taken into consideration.
When they are shopping for a seat, Prom says, “Parents need to try it themselves. Play with it in the store. See how the harness adjusts. Take it out to your car.” And, yes, she says some stores will let you do exactly that. Just ask. Because if a seat doesn’t fit in the car properly, it’s not going to be as effective in a crash, she says.
At UAMS, before a child is sent home, a trained staff member inspects the seat the parents have brought for the task. Sometimes those seats don’t pass muster. It’s Mowery’s job to explain to the family why the seat is inadequate.
Sometimes a seat doesn’t fit a particular child. That was the case with the one 19-yearold Kendall Marrow bought for her son, Gavin Yarbrough, who was born prematurely at UAMS on Aug. 14. Marrow said she paid particular care to only consider the seats with the highest ratings and she bought a Safety 1st rearfacing infant seat that had a five-star rating at walmart.com. The problem? It was rated for children starting at 5 pounds. Gavin, who was 3 pounds 6 ounces at birth,was still in the 4-pound range Sept. 13 when his seat was inspected in anticipation of his pending discharge.
When situations like that arise, the problem is explained to the parents, who are given the opportunity to replace the seat themselves or buy (at close to, or slightly above, the wholesale cost) an appropriate seat from the hospital.
Pushing a full-size vehicle passenger seat mounted on wheels, Mowery or another staff member goes to the child’s hospital room to teach parents how to fit their baby in the seat, sometimes using rolled-up receiving blankets to fill out extra spaces around a small child. They also show parents how to check a seat for ease of use by pointing out features like a harness that can be adjusted from the front of the seat, instead of the back, which would require removing the seat from the car before the straps can be adjusted.
TAKE IT EASY
Prom says ease of use is important because people will be more likely to use the seat - and use it properly- if it’s easy to use. “All car seats are safe,” she says. “But not all are easy to use.”
One of the seats UAMS sells, the Chicco KeyFit 30 (suggested retail price $179.99) for children 4 to 30 pounds and less than 30 inches tall, is a favorite with Prom and Mowery because of its ease of use and ability to fit properly in a wide variety of vehicles.
The hospital also sells, though only to patients, the Safety 1st On Board for children 4 to 22 pounds and less than 29 inches. Mowery points out, when she’s working with Gavin’s mother, that that model is currently selling at target.com for $99.99, less than the hospital’s wholesale cost. The manufacturer’s suggested retail price is $130.
Consumer Reports (consumerreports.org) tests seats for, among other things, ease of use and ability to fit correctly in a wide variety of vehicles.
Another consideration is price. Car seats can be expensive. Mowery says many people buy the cheapest seat, and that can be OK. There are safe seats in every price range, she says.
GETTING IT RIGHT
What are most common mistakes people make?
Prom says many parents choose a seat that is not rated for their child’s weight and height, or they don’t install it tightly enough in the vehicle. It should not move more than a inch when wiggled side to side.
Other problems arise with the way the harness is fitted to the child, and the way the adjustable shoulder straps are threaded through the seat back. In rear-facing seats, the straps should be threaded though the slats that are just below the height of the baby’s shoulders. On forward-facing seats, the straps should go through the slats that are just above the baby’s shoulders.
And parents need to remember to adjust the harness straps as the baby grows and when they convert it from rear- to front-facing, Prom says.
“It is crucial that parents consult the car seat instructions and their vehicle owner’s manual before installing the seat,” she says. Both contain important information that increase the chances of getting the seat set up correctly.
Mowery says parents tend to get lax as their child grows older. “Everybody uses an infant seat in the beginning. They almost always get the infant seat right, whether or not they are using it is another issue,” she says.
Car seat inspections held at state locales
In recognition of National Child Passenger Safety Week, which continues through Saturday, car seat inspections are being held Saturday in Conway and Searcy.
Conway: Target, 501 Elsinger Blvd., 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Searcy: Lowe’s, 3701 E. Race St., 10 a.m. to noon
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration website lists the following inspection sites. Most require an appointment.
CENTRAL ARKANSAS
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, 1120 Marshall St., Room 315, Little Rock Hours: Monday-Friday, by appointment Contact: Virginia Lancaster, (501) 364-2478
NORTHWEST ARKANSAS
Benton County Sheriff’s Office, 1300 14th St. S.W., Bentonville Hours: Monday through Friday, by appointment Contact: Doug Gay or Thomas See at (479) 271-1008
Fayetteville Police Department, 100 A West Rock St., Fayetteville Hours: Monday through Friday, by appointment Contact: Rick Chrisman or Bill Phelan, (479) 587-3580
Eggleston Chiropractic & Rehab, 3000 N. Market Ave., Suite C, Fayetteville Hours: By appointment Contact: Blythe Eggleston, (479) 575-0105
Springdale Police Department, 201 North Spring St. Hours: Tuesday through Thursday, 9 to 11 a.m., by appointment Contact: Ron Hritz, (479) 756-8200
Van Buren Police Department, 111 S. 11th St. Hours: Walk in Contact: Ask for a car seat technician, (479) 474-1234
NORTHEAST ARKANSAS
Osceola Police Department, 401 West Keiser Ave. Hours: Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday by appointment Contact: Johnny Creecy, (870) 563-5213
Paragould Police Department, 101 North 3 /2 St. Hours: Walk-in Contact: Todd Stoval, (870) 236-7621
Family, Pages 31 on 09/22/2010