Published: December 09, 2007 08:53 pm         

Study: Rear-facing car seats protect kids

Children five-times less likely to die while facing backward in vehicle

TERRE HAUTE — When it comes to car seats, it seems that what you don’t know might not hurt you, but it could in fact hurt your kids.

New research published in the December issue of Injury Prevention reports that children in their second year are five times less likely to die or sustain serious injuries when riding in rear-facing car seats than forward-facing car seats.

The sizable difference reported in this new research overturns what Dr. Marilyn Bull, one of the paper’s authors, described as decades of commonly-held belief regarding rear-facing and front-facing car seats.

“Twenty years ago we were taught that infants could ride in front-facing seats once they could set up,” she said.

Prior to this publication, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recommended infants ride in rear-facing seats only until they were 1 year old or 20 pounds in body weight.

Based upon this research, Bull says parents should leave children in the rear-facing position until they’re closer to 40 pounds, or as far into the second year as possible.

Bull, a pediatrician and the medical director of the Automotive Safety Program and Kohl’s Center for Safe Transportation of Children at Riley Hospital, has been involved in developmental pediatrics for more than 30 years.

When her own children were riding in car seats, Bull herself used forward-facing seats once she thought them suitable.

However, she notes, back then less than 10 percent of all children rode in any car seats at all.

Those numbers have skyrocketed dramatically over the years as more knowledge is shared about the subject.

Today, 98 percent of Hoosier children under one year old ride in car seats, and 85 percent are in the rear-facing convertible style, she said.

However, only seven percent of Hoosier children ride in the rear-facing seats during their second year.

“Parents want to do what’s right for their children. That’s a universal,” Bull said. But many parents simply don’t realize the difference the seat’s direction can make.

With the publication of this new information, she hopes more parents will be made aware of the safety benefits involved in the different styles of seats.

In Sweden, she said, the death and injury statistics of children in vehicle accidents is a fraction of that in America. She attributes this to their children riding in rear-facing seats until the age of four years.

But the issue is not as much about age in months, she said, but in body weight.

Most parents switch their children into the front-facing seats when they reach between 18 and 20 pounds. The new research recommends leaving them in rear-facing seats until around 40 pounds.

“The recommendations coming out of this announcement are that parents recognize the importance of placing their child in a convertible seat as long as possible,” she said.

And, there’s no difference in price to the parents.

“There really is no enhanced cost in using the convertible seat because once they out-grow the rear-facing position you can just switch,” she pointed out.

As the issue is not about money, Bull says lack of education and convenience are the biggest roadblocks to parents leaving children in the about-face position longer.

“We recommend some special, soft toys just for the car,” she said, noting that as the child grows into the second year, not being able to see the parent driving can result in behavior problems.

“You have to be a little more creative sometimes,” she said, noting that older siblings sitting beside the infant can be a big help.

For more information, parents can call 1-800-KID-N-CAR, or visit www.preventinjury.org/

fittingstation.asp for a list of car safety seat inspection stations all across Indiana.

Brian Boyce can be reached at (812) 231-4253 or brian.boyce@tribstar.com.