Car seats are important safety equipment for children. If you are planning to take your baby home from the hospital by car, you will need a car seat from the first day he is born. As informed by https://adviserbaby.com, in the United States some rules require children to sit in car seats, usually until they are 7 years old. There is also a requirement to use a booster seat until the child weighs 60 pounds (27.2 kg) or more or up to a certain age.
If you are still in doubt, is it necessary for the child to sit in the car seat? In 2014, 167,000 children were injured in car accidents and more than 1000 died.
Injuries in car accidents are the leading cause of death in children under the age of 9 in the United States. The cause? Many children do not use car seats as they should. The use of the right car seat can prevent the death of many children.
And while you might assume most of these tragedies are the result of high-speed crashes 75 percent of car incidents occur on local roads, and half of all incidents involving children occur on roads with a speed limit of 44 mph or less.
Car seats are the equipment you need to buy before giving birth. There’s nothing wrong with buying a car seat at 6 to 8 months of pregnancy. This will give you plenty of time to choose the right one.
Why are car seats important for children?
Maybe you’ve heard this comment, “In the old days no one used a car seat but everything was fine.” Today there are more and more vehicles on the road, which drive at high speeds for long distances. This makes roads more dangerous than they were 20 years ago. A 67 percent reduction in the risk of serious injury occurred when parents placed their child in a properly fitted car seat.
A child’s body is not like your body. A baby’s skeleton is made up of soft cartilage that slowly turns into bone. This makes him vulnerable to injury during a collision, especially because his organs are not protected as in adults. Some other factors that make car accidents dangerous for children include:
• Development of the brain and spinal cord. Damage to the brain and spinal cord is more dangerous in children, whose bodies and brains are still developing.
• The small size of the child makes it easier for him to bounce off the car even if there is only a light impact.
• Lower child self-control. Adults know when to sit quietly. But children cannot stay still if they are not fitted with a car seat properly, thus making them more susceptible to injury in the event of a car accident.