Why is the use for seat belts so low among children?

Fortunately, more and more people in America are finally realizing the benefits of seat belts and buckling up. Sadly, many of these people are not young.

Elizabeth Sprinkel, senior vice president of the Insurance Research Council (IRC), claims, “It is clear that increased public education on the effectiveness of seat belt use is saving lives and the enactment of seat belt laws have been successful in encouraging Americans to buckle up. However, more work needs to be done to increase use among all Americans – especially children and teens.”

Parents should especially look at this issue more carefully. Parents or guardians of children should make sure that they are safely buckled up or maybe in booster seats (depending on the age and weight).

In addition to buckling up, there are other safety tips that parents should be aware of if they want to make sure that their children are safe. Here are those tips that the Insurance Information Network of California recommends all parents consider:

• Use child safety seats: Even though all 50 states have some sort of child restraint laws, that doesn’t mean that all parents purchase safety seats for their children. As a matter of fact, 40 percent of children have no safety equipment in the car.

If you aren’t sure about the way you installed your safety seat belts, you can always contact your local police department and ask.

• Until they can wear seat belts, make sure that children sit in booster seats: Booster seats are a great safety feature that all parents should purchase for their children. It is extremely important to keep in mind that children are not supposed to wear seat belts if they don’t weigh a certain amount and until they can sit with their knees bent at the edge of the seat and their backs are comfortably against the back of the seat.

• Children under the age of 12 should not be allowed to ride in a seat protected by an airbag: Even though airbags are excellent safety features in cars, they can easily injure children who are not ready for them.

Because of the strong force of the airbag inflation, airbags aren’t safe for children to be against. Children under the ages of 12 should be buckled up in the back seat. However, some cars also come with side airbags that will cushion the backseat passengers against the force of an automobile collision.

Safety tips should be followed virtually by every single parent and should not be avoided for the protection and well-being of children inside vehicles. Other than those safety tips, it is very important to know the frequent accident characteristics. Here they are:

• Location
   
• Number of vehicles

• Point of impact

• Day and time