Safety Seats Save Kids' Lives
Now, there's even more reason to ensure your young child is not among an estimateed 10 percent who aren't using a safety seat: new research shows car safety seats significantly reduce the odds of accident fatalities. Car accidents cause more injuries and deaths among children older than 1 year than nearly any other source - more than 500 children younger than 3 died as a result of motor vehicle collisions in 2005, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The good news is that safety seat use is high in the US - the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates more than 90 percent of babies younger than 3 were placed in car safety seats in 2006. Safety officials recommend rear-facing infant seats for children up to 1 year; convertible seats for older, larger infants as old as 3; and booster seats for 4- to 8-year-olds. The research results appear in the February issue of the American Journal of Public Health.