AUSTIN, Texas – Children often want to act like grownups, but safety advocates say having children ride in cars the way mom and dad do is something that should be put off for as long as possible.<\/p>\n
A new study from Safe Kids Worldwide finds the majority of parents are moving their children to seat belts before they are big enough.
\nKate Carr, president and CEO of Safe Kids Worldwide, says that\u2019s troubling because booster seats can reduce injuries by 45 percent over seat belt use alone.<\/p>\n
![\"Booster](\"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/gr-41903-1-1.jpg\")
Booster seats can reduce injuries during a car crash by 45 percent, but a new survey finds a majority of parents move their children to seat belts before they\u2019re big enough. Photo credit: M. Kuhlman.<\/p><\/div>\n
\u201cIf there were to be a crash and they weren\u2019t in a booster seat, but just in a regular seat belt, they could likely suffer internal abdominal injuries or face or neck injuries caused by the belt tightening during the impact of the crash,\u201d she stresses.<\/p>\n
The survey also found one in five parents say they bend the rules when car pooling and allow children to ride without seat belts or an appropriate child safety seat.<\/p>\n
In Texas last year, there were about 3,400 traffic crash fatalities, nearly 70 of them children age 10 or under.<\/p>\n
A child should be at least 4 feet, 9 inches tall to ride with just a seat belt, and Carr suggests parents make a habit out of measuring their child as they grow.<\/p>\n
\u201cKnow how tall your child is, and encourage them from an early age that \u2018You\u2019ll move out of the booster seat when you hit 4 feet, 9 inches tall,\u2019\u201d she says. \u201cAnd when they\u2019re 4 feet, 9 inches tall, make sure they\u2019re buckled up every ride, every time – and that includes parents, too.\u201d
\nCarr adds that proper car-seat installation is also critical for maximum safety.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Boosters 45% More Effective Than Seat Belts Only by John Michaelson\/TNS AUSTIN, Texas – Children often want to act like grownups, but safety advocates say having children ride in cars the way mom and dad do is something that should be put off for as long as possible. A new study from Safe Kids Worldwide […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2626,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-state"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2625"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2625\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2627,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2625\/revisions\/2627"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}