Studies: Kids Still Riding in Front Seats

Studies: Kids Still Riding in Front Seats Wed Feb 11, 4:15 AM ET Add
U.S. National - AP to My Yahoo!
By DEE-ANN DURBIN, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - Adults regularly put millions of young children at risk
by letting them ride in the front seats of vehicles or not using car
seats properly, according to two new safety studies.
A study released Wednesday by the National Safety Council found that
88 percent of those who regularly drive children had heard safety
warnings about front seats, where air bags can kill or injure
children. Still, 6 percent of all children age 0-12 and 7 percent of
newborns were seated up front. Blacks and Hispanics were more likely
to place children in the front seat, the study said.
A separate survey by the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration (news - web sites) found that child safety seat use
increased in the past decade, from 50 percent to 71.5 percent. But 73
percent of the 5,527 child passengers it surveyed were in seats that
were improperly used.
The most common mistakes were placing the child in harness straps
that were too loose or failing to properly attach the child seat to
the vehicle seat, NHTSA said.
The study also found that four out of five children who should be
riding in booster seats are not. According to NHTSA, any infant up to
20 pounds should be in a rear-facing child seat and any toddler
between 20 and 40 pounds should be in a child seat with a harness. A
child heavier than that but not yet 4 feet 9 inches tall should be in
a booster seat.
The NHTSA study collected data on children riding in 4,126 vehicles
in Arizona, Florida, Mississippi, Missouri, Pennsylvania and
Washington in fall 2002.
The National Safety Council survey questioned 800 adults who
transport children and had a margin of error of 3.6 percentage points.
To reach more low-income parents, the National Safety Council plans
to start distributing information about child passenger safety through
the federal Women, Infants and Children program, which serves about 47
percent of all babies born in the United States.
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