October 28, 2009 in Opinion

Editorial: Car seat confusion endangers children

The Spokesman-Review

Washington state far outperforms the national average when it comes to seat belt use – 96.5 percent to 83 percent, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s statistics for 2008.

So it seems uncharacteristic of such automotive safety consciousness that one out of four schoolchildren sampled in a recent awareness campaign by Spokane-area law enforcement officers was improperly secured in his or her car seat.

Uncharacteristic, perhaps, but not really a surprise. Two years ago, in a study performed for the Washington Traffic Safety Commission, researchers at Washington State University found that while 90 percent of parents used car seats for child passengers, most of them did it incorrectly. That could cover a variety of sins – using the wrong restraint for child’s size and age, placing the seat in the wrong location or position, or fastening the child or the seat insecurely.

The fact that there are so many ways to get it wrong probably explains why Washington residents’ car seat use compares so poorly with their seat belt use, which is pretty simple. However, it also explains why numerous community resources are available to help parents overcome their confusion.

The Spokane Police Department will provide assistance for those who ask. The Shriners Hospital for Children (509-342-0110) or AAA (509-358-6942) will schedule appointments for parents who need car seat guidance. And, of course, car seats come with instructions.

Still, when officers showed up at three elementary schools in the area earlier in the month, they found a variety of violations, giving them an opportunity to educate parents and perhaps startle or embarrass them into more responsible conduct. That’s better than waiting until after an accident, as happened with Eileen Jensen, the Coeur d’Alene woman whose 3-month-old daughter died from the impact of an airbag that deployed in a 2006 accident. Jensen is scheduled to go on trial next year on vehicular homicide charges because her daughter’s car seat allegedly was installed improperly.

In this month’s awareness campaign, which was conducted on a specific day at three specific schools, officers also handed out congratulatory fliers to parents whose kids were properly secured.

Could such a feel-good experience have prevented Eileen Jensen’s nightmare? No one knows.

But given the precious stakes involved – and the disappointing showing by a fourth of the parents sampled in Spokane – strict enforcement of car seat laws is called for on more than an awareness-campaign basis.

Story
Comments 02

Two comments on this story so far. Add yours!

Ninch on October 28 at 8:22 a.m.
Some people fail to even read directions and other violators are not able to understand them. Start by teaching such life skills in middle and high school… the kids are bright enough to help their families. Notably, kids are the ones who got their parents and their grandparents to buckle up.

Flag as inappropriate
Bob_Knows on October 28 at 4:48 p.m.
Somehow I managed to grow up without Big Brother controlling every part of our lives. We didn't even have seat belts. We got to ride in the front seat sometimes. We rode facing frontwards. We got to look out the windows. None of my friends died either.

Now the Nanny government uses its POLICE authority to rule ever little thing in our lives. Their over bloated budgets give them so much time to waste that they poke into people's lives instead of fixing the pot holes. Just once I would love to see the voters send these police state yahoos a message.

Flag as inappropriate