Car and Road

One of the most interesting aspects of working at Safe Kids is that we get to play "detective.” If we see a statistic we find alarming, like that every hour of every day a teen is hit by a car and killed or injured in the U.S., we get to try to figure out the five W’s, who, what, where, when and why. Last year, we discovered that the pedestrian death rate for teens is twice that of younger children. This year, we took our detective role one step further. We surveyed 1000 teens ages 13-18 to understand more about their walking habits: what they’re doing, and why.  

Our new study helps answer some of the questions parents have about when to switch from a booster seat to just a seat belt. We surveyed 1,000 parents of children ages 4 to 10 and found that an alarming number of parents are allowing kids to use a seat belt alone before they are big enough. In fact, 7 in 10 parents do not know that a child should be at least 57 inches (4’9”) to ride in a car without a booster seat.

I’m a state trooper, a certified child passenger safety technician and a father of four kids under the age of 11, so I understand the importance of safety seats. I’ll never forget the day in March 2014, when I saw for myself just how important they are. I was volunteering at a car seat inspection at the Fabius-Park Township fire department, just outside of Three Rivers, Mich. The forecast that day was for rain and snow. Ice had already started covering the roads.