App Will Help Parents Use Kids’ Car Seats Properly to Avoid Injuries After a Car Accident
Do you have a young child who currently rides in a car seat? Did you know that failing to properly install or use your child’s car seat could result in otherwise avoidable injuries in the event of an auto accident? Many parents have difficulty with car seats. The process of installing a car seat is not always intuitive, and if a child is not buckled up in the way that the seat is designed, the child could suffer severe injuries after a car accident. Recommendations also keep changing, and it can be difficult for parents to keep up with all of the regulations and safety shifts. One thing remains the same, however: If your child did experience auto accident injuries after a crash, you should consult with a car accident attorney about your case.
According to a recent article in Romper, there is a new app that can help with all of that. Individuals can now download “an app that helps parents use car seats correctly.” Does the app work and does it help reduce the risk of an auto accident injury? A recent study suggests that it does.
A group of researchers studied the effectiveness of the app, which is called Safety in Seconds. For the study, researchers from Johns Hopkins University and the University of Arkansas explored how the app helped parents to use their kids’ car seats properly and reduce the risk of an injury after a car accident based on four different categories:
- Whether the parent used the proper type of restraint based on the child’s age and weight;
- Whether the parent always had his or her child riding in the backseat of the vehicle;
- Whether the parent always buckled the child in whenever the child was in the car seat; and
- Whether the parent had a child passenger safety technician inspect the car seat to ensure that it was installed correctly.
The parents who participated in the study all had children between the ages of 4 and 7 years old. About half came from an urban environment on the East Coast, while the other half came from a rural environment in the Midwest. On the whole, the app did indeed improve parents’ use of child car seats in all of the categories listed above and worked to reduce the chances of an auto accident injury. In addition to providing information about how to use the car seat, the app also sends “push notifications” each month to give parents reminders.
Getting the Facts About Child Auto Accident Injuries
Why is it so important for parents to make sure that they are using their child’s car seat correctly in order to avoid an injury after a car accident? As the article explains, “far too many young children aren’t using the proper car restraints for their age or weight, with tragic results.” The following facts and figures about child car accident injuries come from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):
- More than 37% of kids between the ages of 4 and 7 are not properly restrained in car seats;
- Nearly 26% of kids between the ages of 4 and 7 are only using seat belts (when they should be in child safety seats), and nearly 12% do not even wear seat belts;
- Only about 44% of all kids in the 4-to-7 age range properly use booster seats;
- 663 kids under the age of 13 died in car accidents in the U.S. in 2015;
- About 20% of kids who do use booster seats are not using them properly; and
- Proper booster seat use could reduce the risk of child injury in a car crash by about 45%.
Please keep your children safe- always make sure they are buckled up properly! In the unfortunate event that your child was injured in a motor vehicle collision caused by a negligent driver, you should speak with a car accident lawyer about your options.
