Road Travel and Sure Ways to Safeguard Your Child

Road crash is still the leading cause of mortality among children from age 3 and above. As the number of cars increases every year so does people’s mobility. Road travel is has become a way of life and thanks to modern transport system travel time has been reduced significantly. What took days before to reach another city, now it can be done in of hours, and hours turned into minutes. Travel has indeed become a lifestyle and mothers become comfortable enough to bring their kids along with them ranging from short trip to a month’s long vacation. Female drivers and driving moms are also increasing. A friend who works for an Alberta Chrysler dealership observed that more women are buying cars. For driving moms with small children their concern is how to keep their little ones safe during the drive. Parents, especially mothers, are very protective of their young and safe enough sometimes is not enough. Car seat belts are made for adults or at least humans who are 4 feet 9 and above. A staff of an Alberta FIAT dealership had observed this. For children below the above height measurement a regular car seat belt just won’t do. Because of this, Safe Kids Canada recommends mom’s to use a booster seat for their little ones. A booster seat is what the name suggests. It boosts or raise your child up so the seat belt rests on the child’s bony hips and thighs. Without it the belt can rest on your child’s stomach or at the soft abdominal area and your child can sustain injury causing damage to your child’s stomach, liver, and spleen in the event of a crash. If the shoulder belts rest on your child’s neck instead of chest she could move it under her arm or behind her back and it will become useless or may cause injuries towards the head, neck or spinal cord. These matters are serious enough that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recommends that a child should continue using the booster seat until they are eight years old or at least 4 feet 9 inches in height. If you are still unsure whether or not your car needs a booster seat or wearing seat belts are often neglected, here are the following things you should look at: Your child’s shoulders. Check if the shoulder belt passes in the middle of your child’s shoulder across the middle of the chest without touching the neck. If it touches your child’s neck then it could be dangerous because it could damage her neck. Hips. Make sure the belt rests low on your child’s hips and not on the belly area. Ideally, the belt should lie across your child’s hip bone area and not his stomach. Height when your child is seated. Your child must be not less than 25 inches from his tailbone to his head while sitting up on a chair. Knees. Your child’s knees should curve comfortably on the seat’s edge by not slumping forward in their seat. If you found yourself nodding to all of the four reminders above then your child is ready to wear a regular seat belt. However, if your answer is no even to at least one reminder then it’s best to get a seat booster for your child. I guess Jeep dealers would also agree that our safety and those of our loved ones comes first.