LIVEWELL MINUTE: Child Passenger Safety

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of unintentional injury-related death among children ages fourteen and younger.  Nearly sixteen hundred children ages fourteen and younger die in motor vehicle crashes each year and almost 228,000 children are injured.

Kathy Leggett of the Center for Advocacy and Outreach says, “Children ages two to five who are restrained in adult seat belts are three-and-a-half times more likely to suffer a serious head injury in a crash than children of the same age restrained in appropriate safety seats.”

That’s why Iowa has a new Child Passenger Safety Law.  According to Iowa’s new law; children must ride:

• Rear-facing until one year of age and at least twenty pounds.
• In a child safety seat or booster seat through the age of five.
• In a booster seat or seat belt between the ages of six and eleven.

Leggett says, “Riding unrestrained is the greatest risk factor for death and injury among child passengers in motor vehicles. Protect your precious cargo by making sure they ride right at all times!”