One of the main concerns of a parent, caregiver, or a relative who may transport a child in a car is ensuring his or her safety against any kind of injury. This may be possible by choosing the right kind of child car seat that will be used in the vehicle.
Choosing what kind of child car seat to buy may be difficult for some because each kind corresponds to a child’s height, weight, and age.
To clarify the parents on this matter, here are some guidelines provided by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) concerning these seats:
• Infants are advised to ride rear-facing until they weighed at least 20 pounds or they reached 1-year-old.
• Parents should let their children ride rear-facing as longs as they can. Children who weighed at least 20 pounds and are already 1-year-old can ride forward facing.
• Booster seats may be used by children who have outgrown car safety seats that are forward-facing. They should use this kind of seat until adult belts can properly fit on them.
• Children can ride in a shoulder and lap belt if they can no longer use their booster seats. This may be applicable until they reach 13-years-old.
Proposing New Booster Seats for Children
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) suggested additional requirements for child seat manufacturers who are making booster seats for heavier and older children. The proposal obliges such manufacturers to produce seats that are capable in providing protection to children who reached 80 pounds and ten years of age from serious injury or death in 30 mile-per-hour collisions.
The proposal is included in the agency’s goal to improve the safety provided to children while they are riding a vehicle. It was also made as a response to Anton’s Law, which obliged the agency to expand its coverage of federal standards pertaining to child safety seats.
Anton’s Law was named after a four-year-old boy named Anton Skeen. He was killed after he was ejected from the vehicle in a car accident in Oregon. The accident occurred in 1996.
Improperly Using Car Seats can be Dangerous
According to NHTSA, thousands of little children are injured or killed in crashes every year mainly because the car safety seats were not restrained or were improperly secured.
Many parents do not know how to properly install a child car seat. In addition, many of them failed to realize that not all seats may fit in their car.
To address the problem in securing child safety seats, every car seat and almost all vehicles produced since September 2002 were required to possess the Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children, also known as the LATCH system.
Through this system, cases concerning child car seat injury may be lessened and parents will not worry too much whenever they are travelling with their children.
To help you pursue product liability claims for injuries obtained from defective car seats, consult with our expert Los Angeles personal injury lawyers. Log on to our website and avail of our free case analysis.
Jan Camille has fascination for reading and writing. She finished AB Journalism in one of the famous universities. She aims to pursue a degree in law and at the same time continue to write. She wants to inspire others through her writings because she believes that writing is an instrument that can touch other people’s minds and hearts.
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