Child Car Seats Save Lives in Kentucky

Each year, more than 1,000 children under the age of 14 are killed in auto accidents in Kentucky and nationwide – and approximately 180,000 children are injured.

Many of those young victims would have been spared if they had been properly restrained in a safety seat.

Child car seats reduce the risk of death in passenger vehicles by 71 percent for infants and by 54 percent for toddlers ages 1 to 4 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Sadly, many parents haven’t gotten the message. More than 618,000 children ages 0-12 ride in vehicles without the use of a child safety seat, booster seat or seat belt at least some of the time, CDC researchers have found.

A tragic illustration of this occurred April 23, when a two-year-old boy who was not restrained in a car seat died in a one-vehicle crash in Franklin County.

Here is an online account of the accident:

Franklin County Coroner Will Harrod said a boy about 2 years old was not riding in a car seat and was thrown from a Ford Explorer that crashed about 8:30 AM, about three miles east of the Lawrenceburg exit. The child died at the scene.

The child’s parents and two other adults also were in the vehicle, and none appeared to have been wearing seat belts, Franklin County Sheriff Pat Melton said.

Melton said investigators think a mechanical problem with the Explorer might have caused the driver to lose control. The SUV hit a rock wall and came to rest in the left lane.

The mother was also thrown from the SUV and taken to the hospital, but her injuries were reported as minor. The father, however, was hospitalized with injuries described as life-threatening.

Child Restraints Protect Young Kentuckians

Even when cars are equipped with child safety seats, they are often used incorrectly. One study found that 72 percent of car and booster seats were used in an incorrect manner that would be likely to increase a child’s risk of injury during a crash.

According to researchers at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, , booster seats reduce the injury risk by 59 percent compared to seat belts alone for children 4 to 7 years.

Child passengers should never be seated in front of an airbag, the CDC warns. Airbags can injure or kill children in a crash that might otherwise have been survivable.

The enforcement of car seat laws, safety seat distribution and education programs have proven effective in reducing Kentucky auto deaths and injuries.

Sources:

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention http://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/child_passenger_safety/cps-factsheet.html
• Kentucky.com
  http://www.kentucky.com/2013/04/23/2612801/crash-on-i-64-in-franklin-county.html#storylink=omni_popular#wgt=pop