We know child seats are important, but do we know why?  How do they work to keep our children safer in a car accident, and why is it so vitally important that they be installed correctly?

It helps to first examine how seat belts work.  There's an old saying in injury analysis -- "it's not how fast you're going, but how fast you stop,"  meaning injuries occur not because you are traveling fast, but because you stop incredibly quickly (like under a tenth of a second).  To give an obvious example of this, a passenger jet lands at something like 150 mph, and everyone is fine because it comes to a stop over a relatively long period of time.  If that same jet crashes into the ground at the same speed, everyone dies instantly. The difference is the time period over which the plane stops.

So let's apply this to seat belts and child safety seats.  Let's say John runs his car into a wall at 50 mph, and is stupid enough to not be wearing a seat belt.  John's car stops in the blink of an eye, but poor John keeps moving at 50 mph . . . until he hits the windshield with his head (for all of you smart alecks out there - his car didn't have an airbag).  John has bought himself a ticket to the morgue, because his skull couldn't withstand those forces.

One of the best ways to protect your young child is to CORRECTLY put them in an appropriate child safety seat.  I emphasize correctly because the statistics show that only 72% of child restraints are properly used.  Here are the most common ways that restraints are improperly used:

• Inappropriate age and weight for child restraints
• Wrong direction for the child restraint
• Child restraint improperly placed relative to vehicle's airbags
• Improperly placed or secured child restraints (vehicle's belt or straps not tight enough)
• Crotch strap or harness strap of child restraint secure or tight enough
• Use of a locking clip for certain safety belts
• Improper vehicle belt fit across child in a booster seat
• Child restraints with broken parts.

It's amazing to me that these misuse statistics are so high when we know that proper use of child restraints is one of the most effective ways to protect children against serious injury.  Personally, I personally believe this is a combined failure of government regulation/education and a failure to focus on or address the problem by our vehicle manufacturers.

So, this month will be dedicated to the proper use of child safety restraints.  If there are any particular issues you want me to address, please let me know.