Air Bags Versus Your Child
On May 6, 1998, USA Today published an article titled "Children Still Being Killed by Air Bags." The story quoted a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) study indicating that despite warnings to drivers, air bags are still killing about two people a month – the majority of them children and smaller adults.
As a parent or guardian, you need to know that this controversial safety device inflates faster than the blink of an eye – at a velocity of 200 mph! To deploy that fast, bags must contain an explosive charge that can prove lethal. How lethal? For every 30 people saved by an airbag, one person dies as a direct result of air bag deployment.
The Risk To Kids
The NHTSA report showed that infants in rear-facing safety seats and children in front-facing safety seats were killed or seriously injured by air bags at collision impacts as low as seven miles an hour! In 65 cases where the speed was under 22 mph, children sitting in the passenger side were injured or killed by air bags while the adults driving were not even hurt.
 How To Avoid Air Bag Injury
Federal officials recommend infants under one year old never ride in the front seat. A child safety seat in the front of your car puts the child too close to the inflating bag and can cause injury or death. If an older child must ride in front, be sure he or she is properly restrained for age and size and slide the passenger seat as far back from the dashboard as possible. The back seat is by far the safest place for children of any age – the most distance from frontal impact usually means the most protection. Both infants and small children should ride in the back seat in approved safety seats properly installed. Child safety seats cut an infant's risk of death by 69% and a toddler's by 47%.
Seatbelt Tips For Older Kids
Everyone in the vehicle should always wear seatbelts for any length trip – three-quarters of all accidents happen within 25 miles of home. Kids under 13 should ride buckled up in the back seat. Generally, kids over 80 pounds and eight years old can switch from child safety seats to adult lap/ shoulder belts. Be sure the lap belt fits snugly across the hips (not over the stomach), and the shoulder belt does not cross the neck or face.
Let's Learn From Lady Diana
About 77% of people always use a seatbelt in the front seat, but only 39% always wear it in the back seat. That discrepancy can be fatal. Princess Diana and her companion Dodi al-Fayed were unbuckled in the backseat when their car crashed in a Paris tunnel. Both backseat passengers died, although a bodyguard wearing a seatbelt in the front seat survived. In a 55 mph crash, an unbelted backseat passenger will fly forward with a force of 3,000 pounds. That's more than enough force to crush or propel a human being completely through a windshield.
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