The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration or NHTSA each year partners with local communities to sponsor Child Passenger Safety Week. This year it runs from September 18th thru the 24th.
Statistics say that nearly half of all car seats are installed incorrectly. And this bears out the tragic consequences in that two children every day in 2020 were killed while riding in vehicles and another 278 were injured. Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for children under 19. Even more alarming, from 2016 to 2020 there were 1721 eight to fourteen-year-olds killed in passenger vehicles. That age had the highest number of fatalities (216) among children in passenger vehicles in 2020.
Booster seats are a critical step between harness car seats and adult seat belts. If the seat belt doesn’t fit your child correctly, it won’t offer them optimal protection in a crash. Children are safest when correctly secured in the right car seats or booster seats for their ages and sizes in the back seat — no matter the vehicle type. A bigger vehicle doesn’t mean your child can ride unbuckled.
