Child Safety Seats Save Lives
A couple of generations ago, young children were barely restrained in child safety seats past their first birthday – if that. There were no clear safety standards in place for car seat manufacturers and no real laws requiring that parents use child safety seats. As a result, most parents didn’t use them or used unsafe seats. Things began to change as safety commissions like the CDC released research that indicated how likely small children were to become injured in a car accident without appropriate restraint. States implemented child safety seat laws and parents were forced to put their young children in car seats until much older ages. There is some variation of these laws in every state: infants and toddlers must be in car seats and older children must be in booster seats until they reach a minimum age and/or height and weight requirement.
Child safety seats reduce risk of serious injuries
According to the CDC, car seats and booster seats reduce the risk of death in passenger vehicles for infants and young children (when compared to seat belt use alone):
- By 71 percent for infants under one year old
- By 54 percent for toddlers aged one to four years old
- By 45 percent for children aged four to eight years old
Tips to get your toddlers and children to happily use their child safety seats:
- Pretend the car won’t start unless they are buckled in properly.
- Make a pretend call in front of your child to Santa, the president, grandma or some other beloved figure and explain that your child is not cooperating with their car seat.
- Pull over if your child unbuckles themselves from their child safety seat.
- Create a star reward chart: every time he or she gets buckled in happily and stays buckled for the entire trip, they receive a star. At the end of five trips they receive a reward.
- Let your child choose their own car seat. They are much more likely to be excited to sit in a seat that is their favorite color or displays a beloved character.
- If possible, let your child choose which side of the car to place the seat.
- Set a good example for your child by always buckling your own seat belt before leaving.
If your child was injured in a car accident despite being buckled correctly into their car seat, you may wish to contact a car accident lawyer. He or she will assess the details of your car accident and fight for the best possible settlement from the insurance agency. If the situation warrants it, they will also be able to help with a defective products lawsuit against the car seat manufacturer.
If you or a loved is dealing with an accident or injury, you have enough on your plate. Let an experienced car accident attorney fight for the full compensation that you deserve. It is not uncommon to receive a settlement from the insurance company that is five to ten times bigger with the help of a lawyer. Call the caring accident attorneys at Tario & Associates, P.S. in Bellingham, WA today for a FREE consultation! We have been representing residents of Whatcom County, Skagit County, Island County and Snohomish County since 1979. You will pay nothing up front and no attorney fees at all unless we recover damages for you!
