Children are precious cargo

‘PARAMEDICS responding to accidents across the country increasingly find that children are critically injured or killed because they are not restrained in a car seat or with a seat belt.’

Netcare 911 spokesman Chris Botha says the emotional trauma on the families and the medics who are called to the scene is devastating.

Botha almost daily sees the tragic results of little children standing in-between the seats of the car, lying on the seats sleeping or sitting on mom or dad’s lap unprotected.

‘If, for some reason the driver has to do an emergency stop, the child is flung forward at high speed and crashes into the windshield or the back of the seats.

‘Heaven forbid the car overturns and the child is ejected from the vehicle, landing on the road or under the vehicle.’

Priorities

Although sunscreen, first aid kits and cell phones are among the travel aids that parents bring to ensure safety on vacation, many parents underestimate the importance of correctly using child safety seats for every ride.

Motor vehicle crashes remain the leading killer of children, in part because nearly a third of children ride in the wrong restraints for their age and size and four out of five child safety seats are used incorrectly.

Motor vehicle crashes remain the leading cause of unintentional injury-related death among children ages 14 and under.

Car restraint safety rules:

• Never share a seat belt with a child.

• Never transport a child on a passenger’s lap.

• Never leave the straps of a child’s car seat undone.

• Always transport children in a car seat suitable for his/her weight.

• A child under the age of 12 is safest in the back seat of a vehicle. While air bags can save lives, children riding in the front seat can be seriously injured or killed when an air bag comes with force.

Even with advanced air bags or no air bags, the back seat is safer for children.

• Baby seats should be rear facing for as long as possible.

• Install and use your child safety seat or safety belt according to the manufacturer’s instructions and your vehicle owner’s manual.

Protecting babies in the womb

Many pregnant women complain that safety belts create additional discomfort and are confused about wearing seat belts and shoulder harnesses during pregnancy.

They wonder if wearing the restraints over their abdomen could cause a problem.

The basic rule is that no matter what the stage of one’s pregnancy, it is vital to always wear a seat belt.

Research by the University of Michigan has proven that the safety belt won`t cause harm to one’ baby, which is encircled with amniotic fluid from all sides, and that wearing a seat belt reduces the injury risk to your unborn baby by up to 70%.

How to wear the seat belt during pregnancy?

When you must do the driving, learn to place the seat belt in the correct position – there is definitely a correct way to wear a seat belt.

• Place the lap-belt part of the restraint under your abdomen and across your upper thighs so it’s snug and comfortable. The lap belt should never be placed on or above your belly.

• Adjust the sitting position so the belt crosses the shoulder without cutting into your neck. The shoulder belt should cross over your collar bone and lay between your breasts. It should be positioned so that it does not hit your neck.

• Never put the shoulder belt behind your back or under your arm. Research done by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents found that rapid deceleration in a crash caused injuries to the unborn baby when a pregnant woman was only wearing a lap belt.

• When travelling in cars fitted with air bags, the front seat (whether it be the driving seat or the passenger seat) should be pushed back as far as is practical.

• The belt should be worn as tight as possible – in this way the forces applied in a sudden impact can be absorbed by the body’s frame.

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