Ever wonder: Why exactly should I keep my child rear-facing as long as possible? Why is it so important for me to use and install my car seat the way it was intended to? Does it really matter?
If so (and even if not) you should take a look at the infographic below, created by a physicist, an engineer, and a child passenger safety technician from Parenting Pod, in order to illustrate the importance of using a car seat correctly.
What car seat safety rules you will learn from the infographic:
- Crash dynamics: Why a car crash really involves 3 crashes
- How we protect ourselves from those crashes and minimize injury
- Why a seat belt does not offer adequate protection for children (it turns out that the force felt by a child during a crash can be ten times the force felt by astronauts when launched into space!)
- A simple explanation of how exactly a car seat reduces force and how different parts of the car seat work (it’s physics, but illustrated in a way anyone can understand)
- How to ensure your child is properly protected (use these basic steps as a checklist when placing, installing and using your car seat)
- Why you should rear-face your child as long as possible (hint: during the most common car collisions, your child’s car seat offers more protection when rear-facing)
Why is this infographic so important?
Because most parents don’t know car seat safety rules and use car seats incorrectly.
This happens not because they want to hurt their child, but because they are unaware of what they are doing wrong and why it’s so important to use a car seat in the right way.
This week is child passenger safety week. Use it to educate yourself and other parents about the proper use of car seats. One day this knowledge may save a life.
Read our post about the Missing Stage of Child Passenger Safety: Pregnancy
Rachel Fink is a blogger at Parenting Pod, a site committed to educating parents on health and safety. She is also a mom of 7 cute kids. Her best tip for raising a large family while keeping your sanity is to keep around a large stash of coffee, chocolate, and wine.
Copyright 2020 Safe Ride 4 Kids. All rights reserved. You may not publish, broadcast, rewrite or redistribute this material without permission. You are welcome to link to Safe Ride 4 Kids or share on social media.
