DUBOIS – Child Passenger Safety Week, Feb. 11-17, is a good time for parents to review their child’s safety in the family and other caretakers’ vehicles.
DuBois Regional Medical Center reminds everyone that throughout life — from the first ride home after birth through adulthood — vehicle safety starts with wearing the proper restraints.
As children progress through different stages of growth and development, their child restraint needs change. It is important that parents don’t miss a step in safely restraining their children.
Last year in Pennsylvania, 84 percent of all children between the ages of birth and eight were restrained, according to the 2006 Partnership for Child Passenger Safety Fact and Trend Report. That same report states that within the last year, only 48 percent of children age 4-8 were restrained.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration offers the “4 Steps for Kids” to educate everyone on child safety. They are:
1. Infants ride facing the rear in infant seats until they weigh at least 20 pounds and are at least one year of age.
2. Forward facing toddler seats are for age 1 and at least 20 pounds to age 4 and at least 40 pounds.
3. Booster seats are used from age 4 and at least 40 pounds to age 8, unless the child is 4 feet, 9 inches tall.
4. Children age 8 and older and for 4 feet, 9 inch tall should always wear lap and should safety belts and should sit in the back seat of the vehicle until age 13.
Data shows that children under age 5, an estimated 420 lives, were saved in 2005 by child restraint use. If everyone used child safety seats for all children under 5, another 98 lives could have been saved.
For more information about child passenger safety, call 800-CAR-BELT.