CARSEAT SAFETY

It’s a beautiful Spring Sunday afternoon in South Texas. My husband and I decide it’s a pleasant day to go out, and we pack up our vehicle with everything we need for a nice day on the town. We’ve got the diaper bag, the stroller, the diapers and wipies, the water bottles, the blankets, the extra baby outfit, the baby shoes, the one loner baby sock, the cell phones, the wallet, the keys, and the baby! We strap our 3 year old son and our 5 month old son into the car seats and hand him his toy turtle just hoping it will keep him occupied for the 15 minute drive. This is our routine but sadly some people do not follow the same routine and leave the last crucial step out—not using a car seat.

We start our trip and head to the grocery store to drop off some film. I wait in the car because those with kids know; it is just torture to take a baby out of the car seat for only a 3 minute walk, just to be strapped back in. I sit in the parking lot and “people watch”. I notice a newborn in a mother’s arms in the front seat of a car. I assume she is just holding him for a minute, but nope-there is no car seat in the car.

Its pink wrinkly face looks so peaceful in its mother’s warm embrace. I think to myself how sad it would be if they had a car accident and that new mom would no longer have her baby. As much as she loved her baby, that mother’s embrace could not save the baby. I get anxious just seeing it before my eyes and I call the Hngn. Police Department to report the law being broken and the life being put in jeopardy. My husband returns to the car and he also cannot believe what he sees. We wait to see if the police responds. 10 minutes. 20 minutes. 30 minutes. No police, no ticket, no car seat. Poor baby.

Kamden 2 days old

We can’t believe that the police station is across the street from this HEB grocery store in Hgn,, TX yet no response was made. The new family drives off and I say a prayer for that baby’s safety.

We head through town on the three-laned one way street that just makes you yearn for more speed. You know this street as the “drag” where teens race in Saturday nights. I turn my head and glance into a vehicle passing cars left and right.

It darts in front of us and I see a toddler slam into the back of the front seat as the car abruptly brakes at a stop light. The little girl with bouncing pig tails continues to bounce all around in the back seat only to be thrown forward again at the next light. I begin to wonder if these parents know that in the state of Texas a child under five years old and less than 36 inches must be restrained in an appropriate car seat. Children under the age of 17 must be restrained in some manner in all seating positions.

Maybe these parents do not care about the $200 fine, but what about their child’s safety?

My husband stops the car to get gas just as my 5 month old son gets antsy in his car seat. It’s hot, he is facing backwards, and he dropped his toy. He soon unleashes the “get me outta here” scream. We have all heard it, but some of us choose to listen to it and be safe rather than take him out of the car seat and play Russian roulette. I decide I will ride in the back seat and keep him company. Plus this keeps my 3 year old from wondering if his G.I Joe will fit in the 5 month olds nose.

If more parents and drivers would do this, more babies would survive car crashes. I look to see another family pumping gas with more than 7 children all unrestrained or on laps in the backseat of a car. I say another prayer -times 7.

On the news in the past few weeks, I have seen a local case about parents who brutally murdered their children. I have seen stories where parents have shaken their baby to death.

Babies have been abandoned or neglected. But what about these parents who are committing a crime that will ultimately result in a child’s death. Why aren’t parents being punished for a crime that could easily be prevented by using a car seat? Here we are a society absorbed in safety. We buy the cars with airbags and top rated tires. We pay extra for bottled water, because how dare we drink the tap water? We spray for mosquitoes in fear of West Nile. Who can avoid the Bird Flu scare?

We are furious about speed limit violators in construction and school zones. We have news reports warning us of the risk of this and the risk of that. We are a society that demands to feel safe. Now what about the children in our community, shouldn’t we be concerned about their safety. Take a drive next Sunday afternoon and count how many children you see not in car seats or boosters. Next count how many of those children are in front seats. According to the Texas Department of Health, airbags inflate at speeds up to 200 miles per hour and could easily kill a child. Infants and children must never be in the front seat, even in a car seat. Every day, an unrestrained child under age five is killed in a traffic crash in this country. Using the appropriate child safety seat is the most effective way to protect a child.

We are given WIC, formula, and breastfeeding information when we leave the hospital to feed and nourish our children. I know babies are being fed because I see the formula aisle empty every pay day. We are given flyers on when to immunize our child to prevent a deadly illness and are issued medicaid. I know that children are being immunized and are receiving health care because every clinic in town is overflowing. Yet, we receive no information on car seat safety and when we do it is very little and not enforced.

And I know this because it is not uncommon to see a baby or child unrestrained in a car on a daily basis. If we saw a starving child or deathly contagious ill child on a daily basis we would take immediate action. Why not take immediate action and demand children be restrained when in a vehicle?

I know there are organizations such as Safe Riders and SAFE KIDS who promote car seat safety and they even hand out free car seats, we need to help them promote their campaign.

It is the parents and drivers responsibility to become educated and to buckle up their child properly, and when they fail in protecting their child, we as a society need to take action. The law needs to be enforced, punishment needs to be prearranged, education needs to be given, and car seats need to be bought. Why not make them use that $200 fine towards a new car seat?

Let me tell you, that would buy a really nice one! These reports need to be handled like the child abuse case that they are. Meanwhile, I will continue to bombard my local police station with call after call with car makes, models, and colors with license plates numbers to report the endangerment I see happening to innocent children. I ask you to do the same.

We finally arrive at our destination to have a nice family dinner. We unbuckle our sons from their car seats and I give them a hug. They hug me back glad to be out of the baby car seat prisons. They are a heaven sent blessing and I will do anything I can to protect them.

Please do the same for your children!

Other Traffic Safety Web Sites

Below is a list of other web sites that may be helpful to anyone concerned about the use of safety belts or child safety seats. It is by no means a complete list, nor does a web site's inclusion on this list imply an endorsement of the site or any information on the site by the Buckle Up America campaign, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration or the Academy for Educational Development. If you would like to suggest another web site for this page, e-mail your suggestion to buckleup@aed.org.

AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety (www.aaafoundation.org): The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety is a publicly supported non-profit organization dedicated to saving lives and reducing injuries by preventing traffic crashes. The Foundation funds research projects and develops high-impact educational materials for drivers, pedestrians, bicyclists, and other road users.

Air Bag & Seat Belt Safety Campaign (www.nsc.org/airbag.htm): The Air Bag & Seat Belt Safety Campaign is an intensive education and action campaign by a public/private partnership of automobile manufacturers, insurance companies, child safety seat manufacturers, occupant restraint manufacturers, government agencies, health professionals and child health and safety organizations. The Campaign's goal is to educate the public on how to maximize the lifesaving capabilities of air bags while minimizing the risk, and to increase the proper use of safety belts and child safety seats. The web site is operated by the National Safety Council.

Hispanic American Police Command Officers Association (www.hapcoa.com): H.A.P.C.O.A. is a national non-profit organization composed of command-level officers from local, county, state and federal law enforcement agencies throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. H.A.P.C.O.A. provides yearly national conferences for training, networking, and establishing relationships and partnerships within the law enforcement profession.

Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (www.iihs.org): IIHS is an independent, non-profit research and communications organization funded by auto insurers and dedicated to reducing highway crash deaths, injuries and property losses.

International Association of Chiefs of Police (www.theiacp.org): IACP is the world's oldest and largest nonprofit membership organization of police executives. IACP's leadership consists of the operating chief executives of international, federal, state and local agencies of all sizes.

Governors Highway Safety Association (www.ghsa.org): GHSA is a non-profit association representing the highway safety programs of states and territories on the human behavioral aspects of highway safety. Its mission is to provide leadership in the development of national policy to ensure effective highway safety programs.

National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (www.noblenatl.org): NOBLE's mission is to ensure equity in the administration of justice in the provision of public service to all communities, and to serve as the conscience of law enforcement by being committed to justice by action.

National Organizations for Youth Safety (www.noys.org): NOYS is a coalition of more than 40 national youth member organizations, youth-serving organizations and Federal agencies working together to improve safety among youth.

National SAFE KIDS Campaign (www.safekids.org): The National SAFE KIDS Campaign is the first and only national organization dedicated solely to the prevention of unintentional injury.

National Sheriffs Association (www.sheriffs.org): The NSA is a non-profit organization dedicated to raising the level of professionalism among those in the criminal justice field. NSA is involved in numerous programs to enable sheriffs, their deputies, chiefs of police, and others in the field of criminal justice to perform their jobs in the best possible manner and to better serve the people of their cities/counties or jurisdictions.

Safe Communities (www.nhtsa.dot.gov/safecommunities): This web site provides one-stop shopping for local community needs for materials and resources related to building and strengthening Safe Communities. The web site is operated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Car seat links

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/New-fact-sheet03/ChildPassenger.pdf

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/ems/Child_Health/chmfacts.htm

http://www.buckleupamerica.org/research/files/SafetyBeltSp.pdf

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/New-fact-sheet03/ChildPassenger.pdf

http://www.safekids.org/buckleup/car_seat_locator_results.cfm

http://www.inventiveparent.com/lawsreg6.htm#Texas