Why are child safety seats needed?

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death and injury for American children, ranking ahead of all other types of unintentional injuries, and claiming more lives than any childhood disease. Injuries from motor vehicle crashes are also a major cause of epilepsy and paraplegia in children. In fact, the American Academy of Pediatrics has stated that the trauma suffered by children riding unprotected in cars involved in crashes is the major cause of death and serious injury threatening children today. That is why all 50 states and the District of Columbia have passed mandatory child safety seat usage laws.

All motor vehicle occupants need to be protected from hitting the vehicle's interior in case of a sudden stop, swerve, or crash. They also need to be restrained to prevent ejection from the vehicle itself. If unrestrained, infants and children are thrown around the vehicle like flying missiles. In a 30-mph crash, children may be thrown forward with a force equal to 30 times their own weight. (i.e., 10 lb. infant x 30 mph = 300 Ibs of force). That's like falling from a three-story building! You would never think of doing that, yet, when you let your child ride unrestrained, that is exactly what you're risking.

Young passengers are the most helpless. They are dangerously exposed to serious head injuries because they have disproportionately larger heads and softer, undeveloped bones. Remember, children are not small adults! Under identical situations, a young child is much more likely to be injured than an adult. Each year about 600-700 passengers under age five are killed and more than 75,000 are injured as a result of vehicle collisions and sudden stops.

Many people believe they can protect children while riding in a vehicle by holding them on their laps, but safety experts call this the "child crusher" position. Actually, a parent or other adult increases both the probability and degree of injury to a child in a crash with this practice. Even at low speeds, the forces generated in a crash are so great that even strong adults cannot restrain or shield children held in their laps. The children are thrown forward into a dashboard or seatback area and then crushed between that surface and the unrestrained adult's body.

Next: Select the best safety seat for your child »