If you have a baby in your life, then you most likely have baby car seats in your life also. Since 1975, there has been a concerted effort to make our children safer in automobiles. Baby car seats and child car seats are now a must have accessory just like pacifiers and wet wipes. LATCH devices, in all domestic vehicles since 2002, and tethers can pose a challenge to even the most technically inclined. Just like babies, the use of child car seats can be involved, even though a first look seems to be fairly simple. After all, it's just a baby, right? Baby car seats involve a few straps, hooks and latches. This should be a straightforward installation. There is much helpful information available on ensuring the proper use of child car seats.
According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), traffic accidents are the greatest public health problem for children and infants. The statistics are convincing. On an average day, 4 children die and over 600 are injured riding in automobiles. Of the ones killed, half were not restrained in baby car seats or any other restraint. One of those four involved a drinking impaired driver, with half of those (about 4 per week) killed riding in the car with an impaired driver.
In a 1999 survey done by Taft, over 17,500 parents were asked if they were properly using baby car seats. The result was only 15% of child car seats were properly installed. The National Transportation Safety Board's survey of parents revealed 96% of them thought they were using their child car seats properly. However, 80% of those people were making unintentional mistakes in putting baby car seats in their vehicles.
There is a multitude of information on the web regarding use of child car seats. This ranges from proper installation to where to get free, loaner, or discounted seats. Having access to baby car seats and instructions on how to use them as proven to increase child safety. From TheCommunityGuide.org, studies show that programs teaching use and proper installation of baby car seats improved that use and installation by 23% over public safety announcements alone. There is no difference in income level, or rural, suburban and urban communities. Everyone improves when given access to baby car seats and instructions on how to use them. A reliable resource for information on where to get baby car seats and their use is your local fire department. Many communities have donation drives for child car seats. The seats are then put into programs for those in need.
There is a helpful locator on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration web site that has a list of local fitting stations for every state, the District of Columbia, Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands and Northern Mariana Islands. Go to www.nhtsa.dot.gov, the Vehicles & Equipment tab, then Child Safety. Interesting to note that Arkansas, New Mexico, West Virginia, Louisiana, and Wyoming have considerably fewer "fitting stations" than others states.
There are also offerings on the web of videos and literature to help people understand baby car seats and how to install them. Everyone who has a child in their life should make use of these resources to help ensure the proper use of baby car seats.