Child Car Seat Requirements

Motor vehicle injuries are the number one public health problem faced by children today. In fact, they are the leading cause of death among children at every age after their first birthday. Having a child restraint device is not enough; these should be properly installed and used.

The following are facts that depict the occurrence and consequences of the lack of or misuse of child restraints:

• In 2000, 1,471 children between 0 and 14 died in motor vehicle crashes in the United States, and over 250,000 sustained emergency room injuries. Many of these injuries were preventable.
• Of all the child passengers between 0 and 12 years killed in motor vehicle accidents in 1999-2000, 52% were unrestrained, 35% were riding in the front seat, and 18% were incorrectly restrained.
• Only less than 10% of children between 5 and 8 year use booster seats, the recommended safety seat for this group.
• About 75% of children between the ages of 1 and 4 who ride with a driver that is unrestrained are also unrestrained.
• A lot of children passengers in child safety seats are not properly secured. A survey of nearly 6,000 children discovered that only about 21% of them were correctly harnessed into correctly installed seats that were correctly installed.

There are also a number of risk factors associated with child passengers. Since they are not the ones driving, they are basically subjected to an adult’s judgment. In fact, twenty percent of all deaths among children between 0 and 14 years involved a drinking driver. Even worse, almost two thirds of these fatally injured children were riding with drivers under the influence. This shows that, regardless of how secure a child is while riding in a car, it is still in danger of suffering an injury.

Child Car Seat Requirements:

• If you need legal assistance with an Auto Injury Claim, please consult with a Car Accident Lawyer near you to discuss the details of your case. The content of this article is provided for informational purposes only.