Please buckle up your kids/grandkids the right way

[stose85]

Hey guys, I don't usually post things way outside of the scope of riding motorcycles, but I thought this was important to share.

I work as a part-time police officer on an every other weekend basis up in Kansas. After working several years on the road full-time and now part-time, I worked my first fatality accident involving a child this past Saturday. I've always been a big supporter of buckling up your kids, especially now that I have a 14 month old son to think about. Before I had my son, whenever I would stop someone with kids in adult seat belts, I would just say to myself, "At least they are buckled in, its more than I can say for most." Even though I knew they were required to be in booster seats, I assumed something was better than nothing.

On Saturday I saw what a regular seat belt will do for a 5 year old in a rollover accident, absolutely nothing. There is little doubt in my mind that if he was buckled up in a booster seat (as required by law for his weight and height) he would have survived the accident. It's not a requirement to put them in the middle seat in the back, but that is the safest place for them to be. I have to turn my son sideways just to get him in the middle of the backseat in his rear-facing car seat in my Toyota Corolla, but its worth the peace of mind.

I'm telling you this because I know that most of you have kids or grandchildren at this point in life. Please don't just use a regular seat belt for a child that needs to be in a car seat or a booster seat. The adult in the car that was related to this 5 year old boy now has to live with the fact that his actions were a direct cause of this loss of life. Ride safe everyone.

 

[Uncle Hud]

Hospital wouldn't let me take either of my two sons out of their custody until they saw an approved car seat properly strapped into my car's back seat -- back in 1983 and 1984.

This is 2016. What on Earth was that adult thinking?

 

[NTXFJR]

Thanks for the great post!

 

[rbentnail]

Hospital wouldn't let me take either of my two sons out of their custody until they saw an approved car seat properly strapped into my car's back seat -- back in 1983 and 1984.
This is 2016. What on Earth was that adult thinking?

You musta been someplace other than Jawjah. I hear the only requirement there is a couch in the bed of the truck, doesn't even need to be bolted down.

 

[Uncle Hud]

Uncle Hud posted: Hospital wouldn't let me take either of my two sons out of their custody until they saw an approved car seat properly strapped into my car's back seat -- back in 1983 and 1984. This is 2016. What on Earth was that adult thinking?

rbentnail posted: You musta been someplace other than Jawjah. I hear the only requirement there is a couch in the bed of the truck, doesn't even need to be bolted down.

One boy born in Warner Robins, GA (Air Force Base, thanks US taxpayers!), and one born in downtown Atlanta. You may be right, though: we didn't have a pickup truck.

 

[Geezer]

Sorry that this happened and that you had to see it. It is bad enough when adults get killed in a crash, but much harder to take when it is a little one, especially when it could have had a better result.

NY is very strict with seat belts and car seats. It is a lot of work to buckle the kids into car seats every time you go somewhere, but it is worth it. The only thing I wonder about is how it affects the little ones to be riding backwards for the first few years of their lives. I don't like to sit in the backwards seats on a train.

 

[wheatonFJR]

I agree with the OP regarding properly buckling up.

Lets just say in 1961 when I was two, before extensive seat belt use, the practices were a little different. My parents moved from Santa Barbara to Wheaton in an old Renault, which was a pretty small car. My older brothers sat in the back seat, and my parents made a little wood bunk for me to lay in on the back window area. My very first memory is staring ahead in the car past my brother's heads...and being very hot. The Interstate system was not completed at that time, so we were on US routes quite a bit I suspect.

In any case, we were lucky not to have had an incident on the way...

 

[rbentnail]

I agree with the OP regarding properly buckling up.
Lets just say in 1961 when I was two, before extensive seat belt use, the practices were a little different. My parents moved from Santa Barbara to Wheaton in an old Renault, which was a pretty small car. My older brothers sat in the back seat, and my parents made a little wood bunk for me to lay in on the back window area. My very first memory is staring ahead in the car past my brother's heads...and being very hot. The Interstate system was not completed at that time, so we were on US routes quite a bit I suspect.

In any case, we were lucky not to have had an incident on the way...

By today's standards the only way what you describe could possibly be any worse is if there were 4 kids and the car was a Corvair. Like our family circa 1965-66.