Give safety to your kids this season

COLLEGE STATION – It may be the season to be jolly, but be extra careful when buckling children up in the car over the holidays, said a Texas AgriLife Extension Service expert.

Beginning with Thanksgiving and lasting through the New Year, people drive more, stress more and face more hazardous road conditions due to weather. These factors can lead to more accidents and more injuries, said Bev Kellner, AgriLife Extension passenger safety specialist.

Ironically, however, it’s not the long, holiday drives that put child passengers at the most risk, Kellner said.

“Most people, when they take the long trip to grandmother’s for the holidays, are careful to buckle up their children properly,” she said. “But when they’re just hopping around town, the tendency is not to worry.”

In reality, when it comes to car accidents, it’s the short trip that is the most dangerous. According to a 2008 Partners for Child Passenger Safety Fact and Trend Report, 60 percent of car crashes involving injuries take place within 10 minutes of home; 84 percent occur within 20 minutes of home, Kellner said.

An increased risk of alcohol-related crashes is also associated with the holiday season, she said.

“According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, from 2001-2005 an average of 36 fatalities occurred per day on America’s roadways as a result of crashes involving an alcohol-impaired driver. During Christmas the rate is 45 per day and over the New Year’s holiday the rate jumps to 54 per day,” Kellner said.

Drunk driving accounts for about 31 percent of all fatal crashes annually, she said. The rate goes to 41 percent during New Year’s.

A large part of Kellner’s duties at AgriLife Extension is to train people to properly install child safety seats. From September 1999 through December 2008 AgriLife Extension’s Passenger Safety Project has conducted 29 classes and trained 569 participants as nationally certified child passenger safety technicians, she said.

Nationally, it’s estimated that five child occupants under 14 years of age died and 548 were injured each day in motor vehicle crashes in 2007, Kellner said.

“The best gift parents can give their children is safety,” Kellner said. “No matter what time of year, child safety seats when used and installed correctly continue to offer the best protection to children in vehicle crashes. According to Safe Kids USA, children restrained in child safety seats have an 80 percent lower risk of fatal injury than those who are unrestrained.”

Unfortunately, most child safety seats are installed or used incorrectly, she said. The AgriLife Extension Passenger Safety Project, which Kellner manages, found a 99 percent rate of misuse in the more than 10,600 child safety seat inspections they have done since 1999.

Kellner said many of the misuse problems could be rectified by following simple guidelines:

– Keep children rear-facing as long as possible to the maximum weight and height limit of their seat.

“At a minimum, keep children rear-facing until at least age 1 and at least 20 pounds,” Kellner said.

Children who are under 40 pounds should ride restrained in a five-point harness.

Children who are 4 years old, over 40 pounds and under 4 feet, 9 inches tall should ride in booster seats.

Children who are over 40 pounds and at least 4 feet, 9 inches tall can usually fit in vehicle lap/shoulder belts.

Though following the guidelines will go a long way in making holiday travel safer for children, ideally parents should contact a local certified child passenger safety technician for a free inspection, Kellner said.

To locate a technician, visit http://buckleup.tamu.edu or contact an AgriLife Extension office, one of which is located in nearly every county in Texas. Contact information for AgriLife Extension offices can be found at offices at http://agrilifeextension.tamu.edu/county/.

The next National Child Passenger Safety Techncian Training will be held in La Grange, March 31-April 3, Kellner said.

“If you are interested in becoming a technician, you should contact Myrna Hill at 979-862-4658 or mrhill@ag.tamu.edu,” she said.