There is no debate as to how important car seats for children are when it comes to your child’s safety when riding in the car. The leading cause of death amongst children is car accidents and the number would be even higher without the help of car seats. Keeping your children in a car seat greatly improves your child’s safety if they are to ever be in the car when you are involved in a wreck.
Statistics
- In the United States, 663 children ages 12 years and younger died as occupants in motor vehicle crashes during 2015, and more than 121,350 were injured in 2014.
- One CDC study found that, in one year, more than 618,000 children ages 0-12 rode in vehicles without the use of a child safety seat or booster seat or a seat belt at least some of the time.
- Of the children ages 12 years and younger who died in a crash in 2015 (for which restraint use was known), 35% were not buckled up
Graco Car Seat Recall
All of these statistics make the news of the recent Graco car seat recall even more important for parents. More than 25,000 car seats have been recalled because the harness webbing designed to keep children restrained may rip and fail to hold the child in the seat. The recall affects certain ‘My Ride 65’ convertible seats that include model numbers 1871689, 1908152, 1813074, 1872691, 1853478, 1877535, 1813015, and 1794334.
The Schafer Law Office’s Take
As a Louisville accident attorney, I am dumbfounded that 35% of child fatalities in car wrecks are because the child is not buckled up. As parents, we all have a responsibility to insure that our children are safe at all times. A parent that doesn’t have a car seat for their children is just showing that they don’t care about the well-being of their offspring.
Any time you drive with a child in the car please make sure that they are properly secured in their seat. You never know when an accident may happen, but when it does you want your loved ones to be safe. Please buckle up!