In a crash at just 50 km/h a child is thrown forward with a force up to 60 times their body weight. Just imagine what would happen if your child hit you!
According to the National Safety Council, the greatest risk a child is exposed to on a daily basis is when travelling as a passenger in a car! Alan Richardson (acting CEO of the NSC), speaking at the launch of a new DVD called ‘Child Safety In Cars’, is eager to stress that when a child is properly restrained injuries can be reduced by a factor of 90-95% in rearward-facing seats and by 60% in forward facing child seats.
Life for road users is very different BC (before children) but as soon as you have to transport little ones you really need to do a safety audit on yourself and your car. Euro NCAP produces figures relating to how well or badly a car performs in certain crash situations with five being the highest and best score. An ever-increasing number of cars enjoy five star occupant safety scores and these vehicles should top any parent’s list, but even in the right car too many Irish drivers fail to use the correct child restraints.
Surely a seat is a seat? No. A child’s weight and height play a huge part in seat selection. For example, a ‘newborn’ cannot support the weight of its head and needs a rearward-facing seat with a neck support.
If your front passenger seat has an airbag do not place the child seat in it. Airbags are inflated in a fraction of a second with an explosive charge and can kill children. Many carmakers are now fitting switches to the front passenger airbags that allow you to deactivate the device.
If you haven’t this option the rear-facing seat will have to go in the back seat. This can be a real pain and requires the clever positioning of an additional mirror on the back window that gives the driver a view of the baby via the main rearview mirror. In reality it is next to impossible for a lone driver not to occasionally have to reach behind them to insert a soother or bottle on demand.
The most important thing to do when buying a child seat is to make sure it meets ECE regulation44-03 (look for the ‘E’ mark); check that it fits both the child and the car! Any retailer who does not offer to check that the seat fits your car and that you know how to put it in is not doing their job.
So what are the factors that influence seat choice? The weight of the child is key as seat manufacturers use weight and not age to define correct usage. The groups are 0 (rear-facing, up to 10 kgs), 0+ (forward-facing, up to 13 kgs), 1 (9-18 kgs), 2 (15-25 kgs) and 3 (22-36). These are often referred to as stages 1-4 by retailers i.e. 0/0+ is stage 1 and so on.
Another word to look out for is Isofix. This is a system that allows a specific seat to lock into anchor points attached to the car’s body, ending the need to thread the safety belt through the child seat. This is a recent innovation that is increasing in availability. At the moment not all Isofix seats use the exact same anchor points so check compatibility with your car.
The DVD from the NSC is supported by Opel Ireland and is available from the NSC in Ranelagh, crèches, public health clinics, doctors’ surgeries and, of course, Opel dealers.
Remember, seat belts are designed for people 150 cms (5 ft) or taller. As a driver you are legally responsible for all passengers under 17 years of age wearing their seat belts. 48% of all child deaths in Europe are road-related so this DVD is welcome.
Michael Sheridan
