Need Help Installing Child Safety Seats?

As a Nashville automobile accident attorney I try to focus my Blog on issues of importance to Tennessee drivers. This morning I read an interesting and important op-ed piece in the Memphis Commercial-Appeal regarding children’s safety seats. Tennessee was the first state in the country to pass a Child Passenger Protection Law requiring children to be restrained in child safety seats (car seats and booster seats).

Even though it’s the law far too often we see a young child riding in a vehicle without a safety seat or, if there is a safety seat, the child is not properly restrained.

The article points out some less than comfortable statistics. Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for children ages 3 to 14. Every day during 2007 in the United States an average of five children age 14 and younger were killed and another 548 injured in such accidents.

She goes on to state, “Today in Shelby County, the child seat misuse rate, or rate of children incorrectly seated, is a staggering 84 percent.” The Tennessee Governor’s Highway Safety Office has been focused on educating the public about the need to properly restrain our children when we set out on the highways and byways of Tennessee.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) which studies all manner of highway safety issues says that using child safety seats reduces the risk of fatal injury by 71 percent for infants and by 54 percent for toddlers in passenger cars. Placing children in age- and size-appropriate car seats and booster seats also reduces serious injuries by more than half.

It is a shameful fact that but true, Tennessee continues to have one of the lowest child safety seat usage rates in the nation and one of the highest traffic death rates. In every county in Tennessee there are centers where parents can go to find out about properly securing their children. The people at these centers are trained and will inspect the child safety seats in your vehicle and make sure you are doing everything you can to protect your children. To find one near to you call the Department of Safety at 615- 251-5166. In Shelby County call 385-4223.

If you or a loved one is injured or killed in a Tennessee highway automobile accident contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident law firm of Phillip Miller & Associates and take advantage of a free consultation to determine your rights and remedies

Seat Belts Work

The use of safety belts, child restraint safety seats and child booster seats are required by Tennessee law. These can help save you and your passengers’lives in the event of a traffic crash.  Tennessee law enforcement officers can stop drivers and issue citations for failure to observe the seatbelt or child restraint laws.  Tennessee was the first state in the country to pass a Child Passenger Protection Law requiring children to be restrained in child safety seats (car seats and booster seats.

Seat belts and child safety seats help prevent injury five different ways, by:

1. Preventing ejection: Ejection greatly increases the chance of death or serious injury. The chance of being killed in a crash by being ejected from a vehicle is one in eight.  Safety belts virtually eliminate ejection.  The belted driver stays inside the car and is better protected from injury.

2. Shifting crash forces to the strongest parts of the body’s structure.  To get the most benefit from a seat belt, be aware of the following points:

• The lap belt should be worn low over the pelvis with the bottom edge touching the tops of the thighs snugly.

• The shoulder belt should be worn over the shoulder and across the chest, not under the arm and over the abdomen.  Make certain that the shoulder belt is not worn so loosely that it slides off the shoulder.

• Pregnant women should wear the lap belt below the abdomen and the shoulder belt above the belly.

3. Spreading crash forces overa wide area of the body. Safety belts reduce the possibility of injury from “hostile” surfaces inside the car (steering wheel, dashboard, windshield, controls, etc.).  Even if the belted driver collides with some of these surfaces, it happens with much less force and often results in less serious injury.

4. Keeping the body more closely in the “properdriving posture.” The belt keeps the driver “in the driver’s seat.”  The belted driver is better able to deal with emergencies and often avoids more serious trouble.

5. Protecting the head and spinal cord. The belted driver is less likely to be stunned or made unconscious by the crash and is better able to cope with the situation. Research has found that proper use of lap/shoulder belts reduces the risk of fatal injury to front seat passenger car occupants by 45 percent and the risk of moderate-to-critical injury by 50 percent (for occupants of light trucks, 60 percent and 65 percent respectively)

As an experienced Nashville automobile accident attorney it seems like a “no-brainer” that when we get behind the wheel of a motor vehicle we buckle our seatbelts, but when one monitors automobile accidents around the state like the experienced Nashville automobile accident attorney’s do at Phillip Miller & Associates, we see so many needless serious injuries and deaths that could have been avoided if the driver had simply fastened their seat belt.