Resolution 5: Be Safe

We’ll make light of a lot of things on SavvyMom, but child safety is not one of them.

Did you know that motor vehicle collisions are the leading cause of death and injury to children under the age of 14 and that approximately 85% of all car seats are installed incorrectly?

When we found this out, we tracked down Canada’s leading specialist on child restraint systems (that’s the technical term for car seats)—Barbara Baines of Transport Canada—to find out how we can help to reduce those numbers.

Barbara’s full of common sense and has some great tips we should all be aware of:

Installation and Operation
• Make sure the harness is snug-fitting—too loose, and an infant can shoot out the top (really—babies don’t have shoulders, which is a good thing as you may recall from your prenatal class) in the event of a crash.

• Chest clips on harness systems must be at chest level—line them up with the child’s armpits for the best positioning.

• Accessories such as blankets and covers are NOT recommended for use inside the seats due to concerns about affecting the harness system functionality—read your instruction book if you don’t believe us.

• When installing any car seat in the car, the seatbelt or universal anchorage system and the tether strap must be as tight as possible (tight, tight, tight like the butt they keep promising you in pilates class).

Moving from Rear-Facing to Forward-Facing
• The child must be at least 22 pounds. Don’t think age, think developmental stage. When children can pull themselves up to a stand unassisted, their muscle development and strength are suitable for forward-facing and they can be turned around to start enjoying the view.

Moving into Booster Seats
• 38 pounds isn’t 40 pounds, even with a full diaper.  NEVER move your child to a child booster seat until they reach the suggested height or weight.

Booster Seats No More
• While some of the new car seat legislation, such as the Ontario’s new Bill 73 provides age limits (age 8 in Ontario) as a criteria for discontinuing the use of booster seats, it is safer to use the height and weight criteria (4’ 9” and 80 lbs respectively in Ontario) for optimum safety as not all children are large enough by the legislated age to travel safely without a booster.

The most important thing, Barbara says, is to keep your children in (appropriately installed) car seats as long as you can. 

Resolve to practice car seat safety—it’s no joke.

For more information on car seat safety, you can contact Transport Canada at
1 800 333 0371 or visit their Road Safety site. 

Isn’t it nice to see our tax dollars being put to good use?