Trina....
Moms View Message Board: Parenting Discussion: Archive January-June 2005:
Trina....
Hi Trina, you won't like my question but here goes....What is the lesser evil?
A) Having the shoulder belt too high on the neck
B) Tucking the shoulder belt under your arm (still in front, but tucked under the underarm)
C) Tucking the shoulder belt completely behind your back
Thanks!
Not trina, but let me give you a quick answer. In Texas if you are pulled over by police and your child is doing either b or c, it is a huge fine. My MIL got one of this, but was she mad (i was so happy, lesson learned by her now! not my child). C is probably the safest. With a major wreck here are your consequences...A, child likely decapitated, b if the seat belt hold probably dealing with a dislocated shoulder at the least, losing an arm is possible, plus internal injuries from an improper lap belt. With c, as long as your child stays contained, you are only dealing with internal injuries.
Now the obvious answer is get a booster, I don't know the situation and why you won't. BUT if that is something you won't even consider, then consider getting one of those devices that relocates the seat belt off her shoulder.
I have a friend 2 months ago, rear ended at a stop light, she was hit so hard that you could see the bruise from the seat belt. She has been in rehab for 6 weeks now because even belted in she is having shoulder issues. Had she not been wearing a seat belt she would have eaten the steering column. You really just never know what is going to happen when.
You're right, I don't like this question. The correct answer is: Use a booster seat!
Tucking the shoulder belt is not an option in any form. Doing so means there is no upper body support, which means serious to fatal abdominal and/or spinal injuries during a crash.
Belt positioners are not recommended.
Shoulder Belt Positioning Devices
Oh, I agree with you ladies completely, and *my* children are properly restrained. But I see soooo many IMproperly restrained kids at my DD's school, that I wondered if there WAS a less harmful way of buckling them, short of a booster. I also was thinking of the OTHER passengers. I mean, a child who is too small for the belt and whose upper body isn't restrained will be harmed no matter what. BUT, in that event they can also harm OTHER people in the car by smashing into them so forcefully. So I wondered if there was a 'safer' way of dealing with that problem. I mean, if they are restrained at the neck, it will harm them, yes, but it will keep OTHER people in the car safer. I wondered if tucking it under the armpit would help keep the upper body from slamming into others.
I'm thinking of printing out pertinent articles and typing up a small blurb about child passenger safety and asking my DD's school to distribute them to each student to take home. The school is VERY small, so it's very doable, provided the principal will allow it. Too many tiny kids keep going on field trips without boosters and with tucking those shoulder straps behind them. And those kids are also riding around unsafely during non-school activities too, of course. I have a minivan and used to cart around five kids as I could hold that many. But my third row bench seat is only a lap belt, so I've been refusing to allow anyone in that seat anymore and I only take four kids. But it's always four different kids and they often tuck that belt. It's hard to tell them to do it differently in MY car when THEIR parents allow them to do it that way. Anyway, thanks for your responses.
Kate, I'm glad you no longer use that lap belt only position.  When other kids ride in my van, it's simple, "MY van, MY rules". I always have spare boosters. I joke about it with the kids but am serious. Then I explain that I'm a CPS Tech and what that means. Not only do I want passengers to be properly restrained for safety reasons, but for liability reasons as well. I don't want a parent to sue me down the road because their child was injured in my van because he/she wasn't properly restrained. BTW, when my kids ride with other people they follow MY rules, too! LOL! They're not allowed to ride with others unless I *know* for sure my kids will be properly restrained. 
Good luck with your principal! Do you need CPS resources?
Thanks, Trina. I guess I would need lap belt only danger info, and booster seat info, as well as the copy of the new NY state law about boosters. THAT will help me a lot!! Yay!!
What should my little blurb say? Let me brainstorm here....
Dear Parents,
The safety of our children is vitally important to all of us. The following articles will help you make important decisions regarding your child's safety when riding in the car. Most K-2nd graders belong in a booster seat, and there are plenty of third and fourth graders who qualify for a booster seat as well. In fact, NYS has recently passed a new law regarding booster seats and you'll find that many kids are now required by law to be restrained in these life saving seats. Boosters are also needed on field trips, and special care should be taken to ensure that the children requiring boosters have them on field trips. It's for the children's safety, as well as the safety of the parents who volunteer to drive for these excursions. It can become a real liability issue for parents who only want to help out, not get pulled over by police for having improperly restrained children in their car, not to mention the heartache that would ensue if any improperly restrained children were injured in an accident on a field trip.
God gave us our beautiful, precious children, and He is counting on us to take care of them to the very best of our ability. He also gave us brains to learn and educate ourselves as to the best way to take care of them. Please take the time to read these articles and educate yourself on the dangers of improperly restraining your children, and learn the proper, safest way of restraining them. God, (and our children), is counting on us to keep them safe.
It's a Christian school, btw. It sounds horrrrrible!!! Help!!!! I'm braindead!!! I think it needs to emphasize the new law some more, as that will MAKE some parents listen up, and emphasize that field trips require boosters on kids who fit the criteria. Now it's LAW, after all, and there are no school buses here, ONLY parents in cars.
Kate, I think it sounds great! I totally understand how you feel about the kids at school. It's the same way here. Shoot, the other day Randy had a friend over to play and when the mom came to pick him up he hopped in the front (10yo), no booster, and his 4yo sister was bopping around the back seats of the van. Now it's only about a mile to their house, but STILL!!! ARGH!!! It just kills me! I can put letters out to my kids schools because there are about 1000 in Randy's school and about 600 in Robin's. I wonder if they'd put something in the newsletter. I guess I could always write something for the local paper. Maybe we should start a MomsView Child Safety Seat Campaign! All us members can send out the same message to all our local papers! Who wants to help me write it??? Seriously, we'd have to personalize it for each state's laws, but we can put the National recommendation in there somewhere. Just a thought, but wouldn't it be great?
Sorry it has taken me so long to get back to this. I've been busy with the kids. They're home from school today, but I will try to post resources. Probably in pieces throughout the day when I have time. LOL!
Here's an article concerning the new NY child restraint laws. This was posted on the national CPS listserve.
State to Require Safety Seats For All Children Under Age 7
By SEWELL CHAN; Colin Moynihan contributed reporting for this article.
The New York Times
March 22, 2005 Tuesday
Late Edition - Final
SECTION: Section B; Column 1; Metropolitan Desk; Pg. 3
Children 4, 5 and 6 years of age will have to be in safety restraints while riding in motor vehicles under a new law in New York State.
State law already requires the use of safety seats for children who are under age 4 or who weigh less than 40 pounds. The new law, which takes effect next Sunday, requires that children under 7 use similar restraints.
Acceptable restraints include safety seats, harnesses and booster seats that raise the child's body so that an adult seat belt can fit properly. Parents should select the seat that matches their child's height and weight, officials said.
Twenty-seven other states and the District of Columbia have adopted similar laws since 2001, according to the National Safe Kids Campaign, an advocacy group in Washington.
Some of those laws are more expansive than New York's. In 2001, New Jersey began requiring children under 8 or weighing less than 80 pounds to sit in the back with a booster seat. Passengers under 18, along with all front-seat
passengers, must wear a safety belt. In New York, passengers under 16 and all front-seat passengers must wear one.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recommends the use of booster seats for children shorter than 4 feet 9 inches -- a height usually reached around age 8. Federal officials, however, said they believed the New York law was an important step forward.
''My view is that the New York State Legislature did a very good thing by enacting this law, and it probably went as far as they could do politically,'' said Dr. Jeffrey W. Runge, the administrator of the agency, an arm of the
Department of Transportation. ''There's a practicability to this whole thing. We have to state what the best practice is. But the Legislature has a greater responsibility -- they have to actually create laws that people can comply with and will obey.''
The fines will range from $25 to $100, but penalties may be waived for first-time offenders who buy a restraint system.
The state's Department of Motor Vehicles will encourage parents to continue using safety restraints beyond age 6 as appropriate, said a spokeswoman, Christine Burling.
In a crash, a child can suffer life-threatening injuries to the spine, bowel, liver and spleen because of the pressure exerted on the neck and abdomen by an adult seat belt, Dr. Runge said.
The New York law may stimulate demand for the seats among children who find them comfortable. ''What I think it will do is get more kids in booster seats,'' Dr. Runge said. ''When children become used to that, the market is going to get better. Booster-seat manufacturers are going to get booster seats that
kids want to sit in.''
A sample of New York City parents interviewed last week had, by and large, not heard about the new requirement.
''I was completely unaware of it,'' said Sharon Hubregsen, 43, an Upper East Side resident who has two daughters, 4 years old and 18 months old. ''I always thought it was the law anyway. I would be in no hurry to take my child out of
a booster seat.''
At Little Folks, a store on East 23rd Street that sells children's furniture and clothing, an employee predicted that compliance would follow enforcement.
''It takes a while for people to know it's a law, something they can get penalized for, something that has teeth in it,'' said Abe Mansour, a store
manager, who added that there has not been a rush to buy booster seats.
Dr. Runge noted that car crashes remained the leading cause of death among children and that seat belt use dropped off sharply after age 4. ''Kids tend to have a mind of their own at about age 6,'' he said. ''Part of it is that they
have outgrown the child safety seat, and parents are maybe less diligent about buckling their larger kids in.''
A government Web site (nhtsa.gov/CPS) explains the proper use of the various restraints.
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Taken from SafeKids.org
New York State Occupant Protection Law
Effective Date
03/01/2005
Law Mandate
Infants through children age 6 must be restrained in an appropriate child safety seat.
Children 15 and under must be restrained in some manner regardless of seating position.*
Car rental agencies must post educational information regarding the state child occupant protection law.
Safety belt law covers all occupants in front seating positions.
Primary enforcement.
State child restraint laws may also be seen here:
Child Restraint Laws
Lap Belt Dangers
Lots of CPS info and printable posters and fact sheets at these web sites:
CarSeat.org
National CPS Week 2005 Planner
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Members
