Buckle up...it's road-trip time

I stumbled across this information about car seats and travel tips for all passengers and thought I'd share since road-trip season is upon us. Some of this information I had NEVER heard before and it made me really think twice about pushing for that next car seat milestone we're always so eager to reach as parents. For anyone who buckles and totes a child in their car - listen up!

Check out the full article about 11 safety errors of car seat use at:
http://www.parenting.com/gallery/car-seat-laws-requirements-installation?pnid=318433

- AAP now recommends that all children ride rear facing until age 2.
(Rear-facing is 5 times safer for 2 year olds)

- Never use the LATCH system AND the seat belt to anchor the car seat
(Use one or the other only. But always use the tether with rear-facing seats.)

- Only one finger should fit between the child's collarbone and the strap. And the chest clip should be worn at armpit level.
(The impact of a 30 mph crash is the equivalent of falling from a third-story window. If children are not harnessed correctly, they will feel the impact in their brain, spine and other areas.)

- Always use the tether and clip it to the proper spot - not a cargo anchor.
(“Using the tether decreases how far the child heads moves forward by four to eight inches with a properly installed car seat,” says Dr. Baer. “That doesn’t sound like much, but it could keep your child’s head from hitting the back of the front seat, the door frame or window in a crash, and that’s the key to decreasing your child’s chance of having a brain or spinal cord injury.” With an improperly installed seat, the benefit of the tether is even greater, says Dr. Baer.)

- Moving kids from booster seats too early.
(Seat belts are designed for a person who is 4'9" tall. This might not be until your child is 10+ years old. A seat belt that doesn't fit properly can do serious harm - piercing internal organs or causing severe injury to the head.)

- Make everyone in the car buckle up!
(“If you have an unbelted person in the backseat, the other people in the car who are belted are two to four times more likely to die in a crash,” says Dr. Baer. And when you look at the physics, it makes sense. A typical 30-mile-an-hour crash may have 20-25 Gs, (G is the force of gravity), which means the weight of a 100-pound person would be magnified 20-25 times. If you were hit by that person, it would be equivalent to being slammed by someone who weighs 2,000 to 2,500 pounds.)

- Flying the friendly skies? Take your car seat on board!
(Tips on how to fly with your car seat)

Food for thought...60% of crashes involving children happen within 10 minutes of home, more than three-quarters of them happen when the speed limit is 45 mph or less, and almost all of them happen when the driver is familiar with the route.