Seat belts and booster seats keep children safe in cars in the event that an accident or a vehicle crash happens. This is why it's shocking when a study found that motorists in the United States have a dwindling interest when it comes to using child restraints in cars.
According to a biennial study from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, appropriate child restraint use in cars plummeted in several categories from 2013 to 2015, USA Today reported. U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in a statement that the declining number of child restraint use "is not acceptable" because it risks the "safety of future generations."
Foxx said that seat belts and car seats help save lives and are necessities that people should use "on every trip." In 2000, there was a 25 percent decrease in the number of injuries and deaths among children aged four to seven in cars, thanks to proper child restraint use.
NHTSA's study found that in 2015, only 44.5 percent of children aged four to seven were properly belted in booster seats. That number was 46.3 percent in 2013.
In the U.S., 37.4 percent of children aged four to seven were improperly restrained in a forward-facing car seat or a booster seat. The choice between these restraints depends on a child's height and weight.
Out of those children not restrained properly, 28.5 percent were only belted in their seats and 11.6 percent were not restrained at all. Almost 14 percent of children aged one to three were prematurely put in booster seats in 2015 when only 9.3 percent of kids in the same age range were in the same position in 2013.
The U.S. made a notable progress in 2000 regarding injuries and deaths of children in cars. It was in that year when that a 25 percent reduction due to proper child restraint use was seen in injuries and deaths among kids aged four to seven.
Lack or improper child restraints can cause children to be flung through the car's windscreen in the event of an accident. This was the case of a four-year-old boy, who was in an accident in Durban, Africa this month.
The child was in his mother's arms when the accident happened and the sudden impact propelled the boy through the car's windscreen, Times LIVE reported. He was airlifted to a hospital and is currently in critical condition. This proves that no matter how tight a parent's hold on a child on his/her lap is, the force of a vehicle impact can put a kid's life in danger.
