Keeping your child passengers safe in the car

AccuWeather

Sept. 21-27 is Child Passenger Safety Week to raise awareness for child safety in the passenger seat. Highway Safety Specialist Laura Dunn joins AccuWeather to discuss child safety in the car.

Transcript

00:00This week is Child Passenger Safety Week, a time to make sure your child is in the right car seat

00:05and that it's installed properly. Joining us right now is Lord Dunn Highway Safety Specialist

00:10at NHTSA, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Thank you so much for joining us

00:18today. Thanks for having me. I know as new parents, when I first got that car seat,

00:24I was very nervous that I'm putting it in correctly. How can parents and caregivers make

00:31sure a child's car seat is installed correctly? So one thing that we're encouraging parents and

00:38caregivers to do this week during Child Passenger Safety Week is seek out expert help from a certified

00:44child passenger safety technician in their community. There are a lot of car seat check

00:49events that are going to be hosted this week through safety organizations in your community,

00:53law enforcement organizations, health care organizations, public health agencies, and we

00:59encourage people to seek those events out and get one-on-one help to install their child's car seat

01:04correctly. What are some of the most common mistakes people make with car seat installation?

01:10One thing that we see really commonly is a loose harness. That harness just isn't quite tight enough

01:15for most kids. So we want to make sure that it's tight enough that when you pinch, you can't get any

01:20slack off the harness right here, and your chest clip should be level with your child's armpits.

01:25Another thing that we see really commonly is not using the tether for a forward-facing car seat.

01:30That's very important because it prevents a lot of forward head movement in a crash and can really

01:35prevent head injuries in children. Another issue that we see is parents aren't locking the seatbelt

01:40when they install with the seatbelt. So we encourage folks to seek out help from a certified

01:46child passenger safety technician. With colder weather coming now, how should parents handle

01:51heavy winter coats when buckling children in the car seats? So when you're traveling with your kids in

01:58the winter, take off those poofy coats before you get into the child seat and use light fleece layers

02:06instead. Harness your child, make it tight. Maybe use a blanket in the car. That's what I do with my

02:12children. And then when you get out at your destination, put that heavy coat back on. We

02:16don't want to create extra room in that harness that may cause an injury. It's there to crash.

02:22If only my child would get in the car seat as easy as that one.

02:25This is so unrealistic. That video is so unrealistic.

02:29If I could get that every day, I'd be a happy man.

02:32All right, we're going to switch gears here into something a little bit more tragic because more than

02:37two dozen children have died in hot cars this summer. Why do these tragedies happen so often?

02:41And how can it be prevented?

02:44So one of the most common risk factors that we see for pediatric vehicular heat stroke deaths

02:50is a change in routine. So a parent who doesn't normally do drop-off at school or daycare

02:55has to do drop-off that day. There's a doctor's appointment. There's something different about

02:59that day. So we encourage parents to set up layers of safety for their family. Have your child care

03:05provider or teacher call if that child doesn't arrive within 10 to 15 minutes of when they're supposed to.

03:11Or put things that you need for the day in the backseat with your child. Your phone, your bag

03:16for work, your purse, something that you need to get through the rest of that day. So when you get

03:21to your destination, you're forced to get out, open that backseat door, and look in the backseat

03:26to make sure that you have what you need and your children are where they are supposed to be.

03:30But set up layers of safety for your family.

03:32I've also noticed a lot of new cars. My car, as well, actually now has something that beeps up when

03:40you turn off the car to check the rear of your seats. I would assume the NHTSA does agree with the

03:49new cars being able to do that.

03:50We are currently conducting research about a lot of those detection technologies, and we look forward

03:58to recommending things that will work in the future, and we encourage folks to pay attention

04:04to the alerts in their vehicle.

04:07Larda and Highway Safety Specialists at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

04:11We appreciate it, and we look forward to people continuing to check their car seats this week

04:15for Child Passenger Safety Week.

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