Colonel Kenneth
L. Morckel
Superintendent
Ohio State Highway Patrol
The child safety seat issue is not about the technical aspects of seats, but about children.
It is about children who are passengers in motor vehicles. It is about children who need and deserve protection in the event of a crash. It is about children riding with an adult who are not aware of the dangers of a crash.
While I am primarily focusing on child safety seats for younger children in this column, the issue also includes safety belt use for older children.
Included in the mission of the Ohio State Highway Patrol is the protection of life and property on Ohio roadways. A big part of that focuses on saving lives of young children.
Ohio Revised Code, section 4511.81, states when any child who is in either or both of the following categories is being transported in a motor vehicle, other than a taxicab or public safety vehicle that is registered in Ohio and is required by the United States Department of Transportation to be equipped with seat belts at the time of manufacture or assembly, the operator of the motor vehicle shall have the child properly secured in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions in a child restraint system that meets federal motor vehicle safety standards:
Here are some startling statistics. Many national and local surveys show that a majority of the seats checked are incorrectly installed. Some surveys show 80 percent nationally, and in some cases over 90 percent of the seats checked are incorrectly installed.
Child restraint systems are constantly being improved to make them safer for their occupants in a crash and easier for parents to install and use.
Child safety seats are designed, tested, and certified by the manufacturers to meet the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Standard 213. This standard specifies certain performance criteria that all seats must meet.
Seats are routinely and randomly tested by engineers at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to verify they do indeed meet those standards.
State troopers throughout Ohio are trained in the proper installation and use of child safety seats.
Parents are encouraged to use these trained professionals as resources for questions or concerns about their child’s safety while riding inside a motor vehicle. If you want a state trooper to check the child safety seat in your vehicle, call 1-877-7-PATROL to set up a time.
NHTSA has extensive and detailed resource information pertaining to child passenger safety available on their Internet webpage at http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov.
These topics go hand-in-hand, especially because many children small enough to benefit from child restraints are placed in safety belts designed for older children and adults.
Also important is ensuring the safety of parents as well as children. No one wants to arrive at a crash scene to find parents killed or seriously injured, leaving a child survivor in a safety seat. Some adults take risks themselves despite buckling up their children.
It merits repeating that wearing a safety belt is your best defense against serious injury or death resulting from a motor vehicle crash. Every person in the vehicle should be buckled up every time they are in a motor vehicle.
State troopers know that safety belts and child safety seats work because they witness the trauma caused by crashes.
The Patrol has been active for years in education efforts intended to reduce the tragedies seen every day on Ohio roads resulting from traffic crashes.
This educational involvement takes many forms including training for officers, seminars for new parents and other caregivers, informational displays at fairs and festivals, media interviews, and public service announcements reminding motorists to restrain their kids.
Thankfully, most parents have responded and always restrain their children correctly. There remains, however, a segment of the population that are simply forgetful or do not consider the chances of being involved in a serious crash worthy of the effort.
We know that if children were restrained in a certified, correctly used child safety seat, the death toll resulting from traffic crashes would be significantly reduced.
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