Recent efforts by authorities in Illinois and other states to help parents make sure they know how to properly restrain their kids in child safety seats highlight an issue that is critically important because of recent changes in recommendations from child safety advocates, according to Online Auto Insurance.
Keeping young children safe in motor vehicles is a priority for child safety experts, law enforcement agencies and companies that provide
Illinois auto insurance and coverage in other states. But just how to ensure proper protection has been a challenge in recent years because of the sheer number of seats out there and the differing safety rankings issued by various organizations, according to the Insurance Information Institute.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) earlier this year changed its guidelines on how long to keep young children in rear-facing safety seats. The academy now recommends that parents keep their toddlers in rear-facing seats until they are 2 or until they reach maximum height and weight recommendations from the seat manufacturer.
The policy modified earlier guidelines under which AAP had advised that infants and toddlers ride facing the rear of a vehicle until they were at least a year old or weighed 20 lbs.
That led to many parents turning car seats around when their offspring reached those limits. But APA says studies have shown that rear-facing seats do a better job of supporting the head, neck and spine of infants and toddlers in the event of a crash.
An estimated nearly 9,000 lives were saved by child restraints from 1975 to 2008, according to federal safety officials. And child safety seats have been shown to reduce fatal injury by 71 percent for infants and by 54 percent for children 1 to 4 years old.
The Illinois Department of Transportation, state police, AAA and other organizations sponsored a free event recently to help parents make sure children are properly restrained in car seats that are installed correctly.
AAP recommends that children who outgrow rear-facing seats transition into forward-facing seats equipped with harnesses before moving on to booster seats that ensure vehicle safety belts fit properly.
To read more about this and other safety and coverage issues, go to
http://www.onlineautoinsurance.com/illinois/ where you will find informative resource pages and a free-to-use quote-comparison generator that consumers can use to get sample premiums for many vehicle makes and models.
