Child restraint was defined in the first part of this article (http://omojuwa.com/2016/02/adeyemi-adedokun-how-safe-is-that-child-in-your-vehicle/) as a car safety seat for children (0 – 12 years) which provides passive restraints and adequate protection for the child in case of a crash, sudden stop, swerving evasive manoeuvres, or door opening during vehicle movement. Safety data for children demonstrate that a child is exposed to extremely high forces in a vehicle collision, which could throw the child against the often sharp edges in the vehicle’s interior and possibly eject the child through a window, open door or windshield.
It was also established in the first article that the use of seat-belts for children below age 12 is not encourage due to children’s physical structure. The shoulders and pelvis are the main points bearing the safety belt loading and these points are less well developed in children, thus offering less protection. (Refer to the first article to understand the current child safety law in Nigeria).
A well fitted child restraint keeps the children in their seat, preventing them from being thrown about inside or ejected from the vehicle, while it absorbs some of the impact force. According to RoSPA (The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, Dublin), there are different categories of child restraints, in accordance with the weight of the child for whom they are suitable as listed below;
- Stage 1: Child restraints in this stage are of two groups. Group 0 is suitable for babies from roughly 6 – 9 months that weigh up to 10kg (22lbs) and Group 0+ is suitable for babies from 12 – 15 months that weigh up to 13kg.
- Stage 2: Child restraints in this stage are referred as Group 1, and is suitable for babies weighing 9 – 18 kg (20 – 40 lbs), from about 9 months – 4 years.
- Stage 3: Child restraints in this stage are referred as Group 2 or Booster Seat, and is suitable for children weighing 15 – 25 kg (33 – 55 lbs), from about 4 – 6 years.
- Stage 4: Referred as Group 3 or Booster Cushion, child restraints in this stage is suitable for children weighing 22 – 36 kg (48 – 79 lbs), from about 6 – 11/12 years. Booster seats and cushions do not have an integral harness to hold the child in place hence, the adult safety belt goes around the child and the seat.
It must be noted that using a child restraint is also as important as how they are positioned in the vehicle for effective result. It is recommended that child restraints in Stage 1 is safer when positioned facing the rear end of the vehicle (that is facing the back of the vehicle instead of facing the front like every other passenger). The first rear facing seats became available in Sweden in 1965 by the legendry safety brand “Klippan” (“The Rock”.) and rear facing is recommended until age 4 when it’s time for a good belt positioning booster.
How much safer is rear facing?
Research in Sweden has shown rear facing to be 500% safer for children up to two years of age. 500% might sound like a lot here but numbers are hard to grasp. In 100 collisions with rear facing kids, 8 rear facing children will be seriously injured or killed, while 92 will walk away fine. However, in 100 collisions with forward facing kids, 40 will be seriously injured or killed, while 60 will walk away fine. Those are large differences that help to save lives. The difference is simply because it’s quite hard to protect a baby or child in a car due to their body composition. Their head, neck and spine are delicate and far from developed. Rear end facing helps to preserve these delicate areas during a collision. Looking at the body structure, an adult head is around 6% of the body weight but a 9 months old baby head is about 25% of their body weight, which is why head injuries in children are far more severe than adults. The neck vertebrae of a young child is very delicate due to the whole neck area being underdeveloped. When a baby is born, neck vertebrae is composed of separate portions of bone joined by cartilage, which means the baby’s skeleton is still soft. The cartilage turns into bone during the first three years of a baby’s life, which continues until puberty. Young children can’t handle the incredibly high forces in a collision while positioned to face forward in the vehicle, not even at speeds which we adults may think are minor. Rear facing a child in the vehicle gives fantastic protection so great that fatalities are difficult to find in collisions with a correctly installed seats. In forward facing seat, a child’s shoulders and body are held back by the restraint, but the neck and head area are thrown violently forward, putting tremendous force on the undeveloped head, neck and spine. For a rear facing child, a collision is relatively undramatic with the whole back of the child absorbing the impact forces, protecting the head and neck as they are pressed back into the seat. Here is a short video that shows the impact of both rear facing and front facing in collision (https://youtu.be/psmUWg7QrC8)
Research has also shown rear facing a child at the front passenger seat to be very safe for children, due to the excellent protection by the dashboard which might be closer to frontal impact collision but follows the crash pulse better. Also, rear facing a child at the front seat gives the driver a peripheral vision of the child and allows better communication with the baby while focusing on the road. However, the front passenger airbag of the vehicle MUST be deactivated for the front seat to be safe for children, especially in rear facing position.
What is the best way to protect an unborn child in the vehicle?
The best and simplest way to protect a fetus is by protecting the mother. Below is a list of research conclusion by Volvo on protecting pregnant women in the vehicle;
- Always wear a seat belt in the vehicle, keep the lap belt below your belly and the shoulder belt between your breasts.
- Move the front seat as far back as your abdomen grows to keep as much distance as possible between the steering wheel and the airbag while driving.
- Be a passenger if you can and ride in the back seat or move the car seat as far back as possible from the dashboard if riding in front.
Children are a gift from God, precious and innocent. They are the most vulnerable members of our society and no parent or guardian should knowingly put their child’s life in danger. Since it has been established how weak and unenforced child restraint law in the current National Traffic Regulation is in Nigeria, every parent/guardian must therefore be conscious that whenever we do not take responsibility for the safety the child/children in our vehicle, we have indirectly saddled them with the task of protecting themselves in cars and on the roads used by adults for our convenience.
Adeyemi Adedokun is an Intelligent Transport Systems researcher at Linköping University, Sweden. He is passionate about transport infrastructure development and traffic safety in Nigeria and Africa. He tweets @yemiadedokun and can be reached on adeyemi.adedokun@gmail.com and +46729037809
