| 777 | Date: Saturday, 30 Oct 2010, 14.34 | Message # 1 |
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User ID: 777
Joined: 18 Oct 2010
Messages: 1035
| It’s every young parent’s nightmare. You’re driving down the road with your newborn or toddler strapped into the child safety seat in the backseat. Suddenly, some idiot cuts you off and your vehicles collide. During the impact, the child seat comes loose, flies through the air and slams hard into the back of the seat in front of it.
By far the most common types of injury accident involving children are those that also involve motor vehicle collisions. According to the National Center for Statistics and Analysis, nearly 250,000 children are injured every year in car accidents. This means that on any given day, nearly 700 children are harmed due to accidents on our roadways. Of the 250,000 kids injured each year, approximately 2,000 die from their injuries. In fact, for children between 2 and 14, motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death.
This is why every state requires the use of approved child safety seats for children under 5. Child safety seats reduce the risk of death in passenger cars by 71 percent for infants (under 1 year) and by 54 percent for toddlers (ages 1 to 4 years).
Unfortunately, there is only a 90 percent compliance rate with respect to using approved safety seats for children under this age, according to the NCSA. In addition, child restraint systems are often used incorrectly. One study found that 72 percent of nearly 3,500 observed car and booster seats were misused in a way that could be expected to increase a child’s risk of injury during a crash.
So how can injuries to children in motor vehicles be prevented? You can start by buying a car that makes it easy to securely install a child seat.
Yesterday, Consumer Reports put out a list of the most child-seat-friendly automobiles on the market. We think is must reading for anyone having or planning to have a baby soon.
Here are the highlights:
Small cars: Ford Focus
Family cars: Chevrolet Malibu
Upscale and luxury sedans: Toyota Avalon
Wagons: Toyota Venza
Small SUVs: Ford Escape
Midsize and large SUVs: Ford Edge
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