Child Car Seat Dangers
Children can and do unbuckle seatbelts in car seats exposing themselves to extreme dangers.
A new study finds that children often unbuckle the seatbelts on their own, putting themselves at risk in a car accident.
A team of researchers at the department of pediatrics at Yale School of Medicine, surveyed 378 parents and found that just over half reported that at least one of their children had managed to unbuckle a seatbelt in a car seat at some point.
Of the children who unbuckled their seatbelts, 75 percent were aged 3 or younger; some were as old as 78 months, or over six years. Some unbuckled their seatbelts as young as 12 months. Boys were more likely to do so than girls (59 percent vs. 42 percent).
More than 40 percent of the children who unbuckled their seatbelts did so while the car was moving, increasing the risk of serious injury by 3.5-fold. The most common response that parents reported was pulling the car over, reprimanding the child and rebuckling the car seat.
Car accidents are the leading cause of death in kids aged 4-8. All parents should be aware of this potentially deadly situation.
