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 Safely Seated
The ABCs of Boosters
By Anne Snowdon, RN, Ph.D.
Many parents pack their family into the car daily without thinking twice about the risks faced on our nation’s roadways. Yet road crashes continue to claim children’s lives. Every day in the U.S., an average of fi ve children age 14 and younger are killed, and over 500 are injured, in motor vehicle crashes (the leading cause of children’s death in North America), according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Many parents assume that their four- to nine-year-olds are safe using a seat belt, but these kids are too small for the belt to fi t properly. A good fi t is essential for providing adequate protection from injury.
Familiar with backseat mantras such as I want to sit in the front seat! I am not sitting in a baby seat! I want out of this car seat! parents wonder when it’s safe to use child seats, how long a child should use a booster seat and when children can sit in the front seat. The wide range of information they receive from different sources can be challenging and confusing.
Booster seats are very important in protecting school-aged children. Children need to be “boosted” up and forward on the vehicle seat in order for the seat belt to fi t correctly across the bony areas — hips and collarbone — of the body. It is only when children are positioned in a booster seat safely that the seat belt can adequately protect them in a crash.
How will parents know when their child can graduate to safety belts? Most states provide minimum-requirement booster seat laws, which determine the height, weight or age that a child must be to safely use seat belts. According to Safe Kids Worldwide (www.safekids.org), children should use a booster until they meet the following criteria:
• Weigh between 80 and 100 pounds
• Reach a minimum of 4 feet, 9 inches (57 inches) in height
• Pass the following Safety Belt Fit Test, comprised of four easy steps:
 1. Have your child sit all the way back on the vehicle seat. Does your child’s knees bend at the front edge of the seat? If they bend naturally, go to step 2. If they don’t, return to the booster seat.
2. Buckle the lap and shoulder belt. Be sure the lap belt rests on the upper legs or hips. If it does, go to step 3. If it rests on the stomach, return to the booster seat.
3. Be sure the shoulder belt rests on the shoulder or on the collarbone. If it does, go to step 4. If it’s on your child’s face or neck, return to the booster seat. (Never put the shoulder belt under your child’s arm or behind your child’s back.)
4. Check whether your child maintains the correct seating position for as long as you are in the car. If your child slouches or shifts positions so the safety belt touches the face, neck or stomach, return your child to the booster seat.
Once children are secured into their booster seat, remind them to stay seated, with their safety belt on, at all times. It’s easy for kids to feel antsy, so fun backseat activities can help. Prep for your road trip by supplying a coloring book and crayons, reading books or handheld games within reaching distance of your children. Most important, however, is that you realize how important the proper use of a booster seat is for your child’s travel.
Safety is indeed the best policy.
Anne Snowdon, RN, Ph.D., associate deanat the University of Windsor’s Faculty of Nursing, has led nationally recognizedresearch in effective child safety system use, and works to increase its awareness on a global scale.
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