By Joanne Cronk
The week of September 22-30 was Child Passenger Safety Week, so this month is a perfect time to review some information on how to ensure your children are riding safely in your vehicle.
Until I became a Child Passenger Safety Technician, AKA a car seat technician, I wasn’t aware that the minimum regulations provided by the Ministry of Transportation are just that…minimums. Most children are riding unsafely when they move through the different stages of seating at the minimum requirements. Transport Canada recommends that children max out the stage they are in before moving to the next. Since vehicle seat belts are designed for adults and not children and because a child’s bone structure is not fully developed and therefore not strong enough to withstand crash forces until at least 13 years of age, it’s important to ensure they are using the proper seats.
I am providing several links below which will provide you with more information of each stage of seating. In a nut shell, children should remain rear facing until a minimum of 2 years old, but ideally until they reach the rear facing limits of their car seat. Once the limits have been met, they can then turn forward facing and should remain in a 5 point harness until they have reached the maximum forward facing limits of their seat, which for most, is around the age of 6 or 7, sometimes older. Once they have outgrown their forward facing seat and meet the minimum weight requirement for a booster, which is 40lbs, they can move to a high back booster. This age may vary, but moving to the next stage is dependent on whether the child is mature enough to take their safety into their own hands, which they are doing when buckling themselves in a booster.
A high back booster seat will ensure that the vehicle seat belt is fitted properly, across the thighs/hips (not on the belly) and across the middle of the collar bone (not touching the neck or sliding off the shoulder). Once a child has reached the limits of their high back booster they will most likely still need a no back booster for the seat belt to fit them properly. This is called proper use and in order for an individual to use a vehicle seat belt properly, they will need to pass the 5 step test: back against the vehicle seat, knees bent at the edge of the seat, lap belt on top of thighs/hips not belly, shoulder belt between neck and shoulder and sits properly (no slouching, playing with seat belt, etc). Many children do not pass the 5 step test in the majority of vehicles until between the ages of 10-12 years old.
One other topic that comes up frequently is when a child can ride in the front seat of a vehicle. This is not recommended until the child is at least 13 years old, again due to the fact that their bone structure is not strong enough to withstand crash forces and the deployment of the airbags. Let’s keep our loved ones safe when travelling in our vehicles and not rush through the stages of car seat safety. If you have any questions please check out the Seats for Kids website or their Facebook page Seats for Kids Discussion Group. Once a month there are car seat clinics held in Kingston, if you have questions on whether your child is riding safely, come out to a clinic and speak to trained technicians who can help!