Protecting Children
Additional Precautions to Parents Never hold an infant or child on
your lap. If you are not wearing a seat belt in a crash, you could be
thrown forward into the dashboard and crush the child.
If you are wearing a seat belt, the
child can be torn from your armsduring a crash. For example, if
your car crashes into a parked
vehicle at 30 mph (48 km/h), a 20-lb (9 kg) infant will become a600-lb (275 kg) force, and you will
not be able to hold on.
Never put a seat belt over yourself
and an infant or child. During a
crash, the belt could press deep
into the child and cause very
serious injuries.
Children Should Sit in the Back
Seat
According to accident statistics, children of all ages and sizes are
safer when they are restrained in the
back seat, not the front seat. The National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration and Transport Canada recommend that all children
ages 12 and under be properly
restrained in the back seat.
In the back seat, children are less
likely to be injured by striking hard
interior parts during a collision or
hard braking. Also, children cannot be injured by an inflating airbag
when they ride in the back. The Passenger's Front Airbag
Poses Serious Risks to ChildrenFront airbags have been designed to
help protect adults in a moderate to severe frontal collision. To do this,
the passenger's front airbag is quite
large, and it inflates with tremendous
speed.
Infants
Never put a rear-facing child seat inthe front seat of a vehicle equipped
with a passenger's front airbag.
If
the airbag inflates, it can hit the back
of the child seat with enough force
to kill or very seriously injure an
infant.
Driver and Passenger Safety
