Child Safety in the Car
Child safety in the car starts from when the child leaves your front door and approaches the car. Child safety in the car is mainly about keeping the child in their car seats. A child safety seat for a toddler is typically strapped to the back of the chair and supplemented by seat belt. A front facing child safety seat has a five-point harness that provides equal left right pressure on the child in case of accident.
Child Car Seat Problems
A problem with most kids placed in child car seats are that straps are placed into clasps but many times are not securely clicked in. Most belt clasps in child safety seats are tight on the locking and unlocking; a feature which may be to prevent children from unclipping or clipping themselves into the child car seat.
Another problem with the child car seat is linked with the main three-point seat belt that buckles the seat to the car. Adult or child passengers trying to put on their on seat belt may fumble around with any and all seat belt locks. You don’t know how many times I’ve found people have inadvertently unbuckled the seat belt securing the child car seat.
Parents need to be most vigilant to the tightness of the straps holding their child down. The strap needs to be tight in order for the child not to be thrown forward violently or worse still thrown out of the straps and into the cabin of the car. The five-point seat harness needs to be fitting and should be tightened on the child every time they go for their car ride. This ensures that the child car seat fits the child and the clothes they’re wearing on the day.
Safety Links on SuperParents
External Links
- Baby Child Seats and Infant Car Seat Restraints
- Staying Safe in the Car
- Child Car Restraints
- Child Safety is No Accident
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The Original SuperParent
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The Original SuperParent 
Older children can inadvertently unbuckle the 3 point harness on a baby seat too, so you should check it often.
Yeah, yeah. Older children and friends who just don't know the rules. Friends are real wild cards. We've had one of WIlliam's friends open the car door whilst the car was moving!!! Can you believe that? Tsk, tsk, tsk. Please kids, try not to kill yourself on my watch.
Ah yes, car seats. I spent a couple of years of my childhood in P.N.G. and we never wore a seatbelt… infact, we travelled in the back of a ute! Ah, those were the days. Yes, ensuring the straps are tight is important. Also, where the actual strap comes out of the seat should be at shoulder hight; not higher or lower.
You don't say. I remember my dad drove a Holden when we were kids, and my sister and I would climb up on the back of the seats and lie down next to the rear windscreen! Seat belts? They were of course tucked away under the seat!
ah yes we have problems with back seat passengers unbuckling the car seat too…
Though our biggest problem seems to be deciphering the new car seat laws and finding a seat that will fit our tall but skinny kids… not to mention getting them all installed safely in the car!
I think the laws were to guide the use of car seats until your child's height exceeded the maximum allowed for the car seat. “Children aged 4 to 7 years old need to be seated in a booster seat. ” If you had a booster seat which had a raised back AND your child has exceeded the maximum height of that seat, he doesn't need to sit in it anymore. At least that's what I got from the onlink. Colin