How dangerous are car crashes to children?

On Behalf of | Jan 4, 2019 | Uncategorized

Everyone has seen the “baby on board” sign in the back of some parent’s window, and for good reason. Children are at a great risk when in a car accident. When you get into a car crash with your young children in the car, it can be very dangerous.

Over the past few years, there has been a greater push to make sure everyone in the car is buckled up. Even though a lot of parents are getting better at properly restraining their children while in the car, but there are still risks. The truth is, car crashes still cause one in four unintentional deaths in children under the age of 13.

Tips to keeping your children safe in the car

Three out of four car seats are not correctly installed, but when they are installed right, the risk of death in the event of a car crash decreases by almost 75 percent. In order to keep your child safe in the event of a crash you may want to remember some NHTSA safety tips.

Infants and young toddlers are at their safest when in a car seat facing the rear of the car. Keeping the car seat facing the back makes sure that the child has the most support if a crash jostles them, preventing their limbs from whipping forward. The NHTSA recommends keeping your child in a rear-facing seat as long as you can until age three.

As a parent you will want to keep an eye on your children older than three as well, as children are not supposed to be out of a car seat or booster seat until they have reached the maximum height and weight limit of each type of seat.