Our view: Keeping kids safe
The term “body memory” refers to physical experiences that remain in the memory long after they happened. Adults who grew up before the era of car seats might share this body memory: You are riding in the front seat of the family car. Mom suddenly brakes and out sweeps her right arm, catching you in the upper chest. You are fine. Mom breathes a deep sigh, and your drive together resumes.
Younger folks who have grown up since the early ‘80s, when car seats went mainstream, don’t have that body memory. They grew up with strict child-restraint laws, and this month, the laws got stricter. In Washington now, children younger than 13 must sit in the back seat. Booster seats are now mandatory for children no more than 4-foot-9 and/or 8 years old. (Idaho’s laws are not as strict, but when you cross the border into Washington, the more stringent laws apply.)
Marion Lee, Safe Kids Spokane coordinator, is part of a regional coalition of car-restraint experts. She is 32. She tries to explain to older folks how times have changed since the mom-arm restraint days. She says: “There were a lot fewer cars on the road, and speed limits were slower. Crash forces are weight (times) speed. If you have a 20-pound child and if you’re in a crash at 10 mph, you have 200 pounds of crash force. The car seat and the seat belt have to be able to withstand that pressure.”
In 1970, there were 103 million cars, vans, pickups and SUVs in the United States; by 2004, that grew to 228 million, according to U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Motor vehicle injuries are now the leading cause of death among children in the United States. In 2005, 1,451 children ages 14 years and younger died as occupants in motor vehicle crashes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and approximately 203,000 were injured. That’s an average of four deaths and 556 injuries each day.
Vehicles have grown safer over the years, but not all innovations work well for children. Airbags, which became federally mandated in cars sold after April 1, 1989, save adult lives, but the intense punch delivered by airbags can seriously injure or kill young people sitting in the front. That’s one of the reasons the back seat is safest for children.
Some kids will grumble about the stricter laws, no doubt about it. Booster seats can seem like baby stuff to first-graders. And long before age 13, some children feel insulted that they can’t ride in front like their older siblings.
Some adults, tired of government interference in family’s lives, and wary of the added hassle and expense, will grumble, too. But it’s our law now. And kids are precious cargo. They are definitely worth the hassle.