27/1/2012 NEWSLETTER
PUT ON YOUR SEATBELT
Seatbelts are not negotiable, and a volcano erupts deep within me when parents tell me that they simply "cannot" get their kids to buckle up without a tantrum!? Just so I'm crystal clear, would you rather deal with a tantrum or the death of your child in the event of an accident?
Buckling up is the simplest way to save your child's life - and to not insist on the wearing of seatbelts is "a form of neglect", said trauma doctors and traffic officials recently. "Studies in the United States have shown that wearing seatbelts could have prevented 75 percent of injuries in children under the age of four, and 50 percent in children aged four to 12," said the head of the emergency and trauma unit at St Dominic's Hospital Dr Jeanne-Marie van der Westhuizen. "We are failing our children by not enforcing the law that is there, by not using common sense and by not teaching our children to buckle up."
A chief traffic officer confirmed that it was compulsory for passengers and drivers to wear seatbelts in terms the National Road Traffic Act. "Adults must wear a seatbelt but children under three years of age do not have to wear a seatbelt unless there is a child restraint, like a car seat, and then they must be seated in that," he said. Those not wearing seatbelts risk a fine of R100 per person, and if a child is not wearing a seatbelt the driver is liable for the fine. If the seatbelt is not in a good working order, a R200 fine will be issued. A driver is made responsible for every person in the vehicle for wearing a seatbelt.
A spokesperson of the Automobile Association (AA) said that from January 1 1965, it became compulsory for motor vehicle manufacturers to install seatbelts in the front of every car. This regulation does not extend to the back seats, but if there are seatbelts installed then they have to be worn.
Department of Transport chief director for land transport regulation Wendy Watson said that it was "absolutely essential" to wear a seatbelt."The reason other countries have lower death rates on the road is because they have higher seatbelt wearing rates. "You must buckle up your children at every opportunity whether they are two or 22 years old," she said.
The head of department of trauma at Red Cross Children's Hospital in Cape Town, Professor Sebastian von As said that if an accident happens and a child is thrown out of the car, there is a 75 percent chance that the child will die. "Trauma kills more people under the age of 18 than any disease and the children most severely injured are from motor vehicle accidents," he said. "The majority killed are pedestrians, but the second biggest number are those children thrown out of the car." Von As said: "Children that are loose in the car are usually thrown, and they become a missile. If a child is in the back seat and the car has a collision travelling at 80km/h, when the car comes to a stop the child becomes a projectile that can even decapitate the people sitting in the front seat."
He was equally vehement about the dangers of simply holding children on an adult's lap."Often parents are under the impression that it is okay for the child to be on their lap or held in their arms, but this is useless in an accident because of the huge forces (of gravity) that are involved."
RESEARCH DATA AND STATISTICS ON THE IMPORTANCE OF SEATBELTS/CHILD RESTRAINTS/BABY SEATS (not surprisingly, there were very few South African stats to be found!) - info courtesy of www.arrivealive.co.za:
• A review of research on the effectiveness of seat-belts found that their use reduces the probability of being killed by 40 - 50% for drivers and front seat passengers and by about 25% for passengers in rear seats.
• A study in Norway calculated that head injuries make up some 60% of all injuries to vehicle occupants. The study concluded that drivers and front seat passengers who do not use seat-belts suffer almost the same percentage of head injuries as non-users in rear seats.
• Ejection from a vehicle is one of the most injurious events that can happen to a person in a crash, with 75% of all vehicle occupants ejected from a vehicle in a crash dying as a result.
• Seat-belts are effective in preventing ejections: overall, 44% of unrestrained passenger vehicle occupants killed are ejected, partially or totally, from the vehicle, as compared to only 5% of restrained occupants.
• Seat-belts are approximately 50% effective in preventing fatalities in crashes in which motorists would otherwise die. It is estimated that seat-belt use prevented about 15 200 deaths in the United States in 2004.
• If all passenger vehicle occupants over 4 years of age in the United States had used seat-belts in 2004, nearly 21 000 lives could have been saved (that is, an additional 5800 lives).
• A review of various United States studies has shown that child safety seats that are correctly installed and used for children aged 0 - 4 years can reduce the need for hospitalisation by 69%.
• The risk of death for infants is reduced by 70%, and that for children aged 1 - 4 years by 47 - 54%.
• Of children aged under 5 years, 485 lives could have been saved in the United States in 2002 if all the children had been in child safety seats.
• It has been estimated in the United Kingdom that new rules on the use of child restraints rather than adult seat-belts for children up to 135 cm in height or aged 12 years and above will save over 2000 child injuries or deaths every year .
• It is estimated that within the European Union seat-belts currently reduce driver fatalities by 40%.
• Wearing rates in European countries vary widely from around 70% to over 95%. If all European Union countries were to achieve a 99% wearing rate for drivers, 2400 lives would be saved each year.
VEHICLE RESTRAINTS AND AIRBAGS
Airbags should also be seen as supplemental restraint systems, designed to add additional protection to seat-belts in (primarily) frontal crashes over 13 kilometres per hour (km/h). While airbags have saved many lives, there have also been deaths attributed to airbags deploying in crashes that would not have been life threatening. Analysis of deaths involving airbags in the United States showed that nearly all of the people who have died from airbag related injuries were either unrestrained or improperly restrained.
Most of the deaths have been to children and adults of small stature. Airbags are a passive restraint system, deploying automatically in some types of crashes. If an occupant is unrestrained, or the vehicle has an airbag installed but no seat-belt, it is possible that the occupant may come into contact with the airbag before it has fully inflated. This is also the case for people who need to sit closer to the steering wheel as a result of their size.
Airbags deploy at approximately 300 km/h. Therefore, vehicle occupants should ensure that they are restrained regardless of whether or not a vehicle has an airbag installed. It is best for small children to be sitting in a child restraint on the back seat away from airbags!
When a crash occurs, a car occupant without a seat-belt will continue to move at the same speed at which the vehicle was travelling before the collision and will be catapulted forward into the structure of the vehicle - most likely into the steering wheel if they are driving, or into the back of the front seats if they are rear seat passengers. Alternatively, they can be ejected from the vehicle completely.
At birth, the infant head is around a quarter of their total length and about a third of their body weight. An infant's skull is very flexible, so a relatively small impact can result in significant deformation of the skull and brain. The smaller the child, the lower the force needed for injury. The infant rib cage is also very flexible. Impact to the chest can result in a large compression of the chest wall onto the heart and lungs, and some of the abdominal organs. The infant pelvis is unstable and cannot withstand the forces from an adult restraint system. Infants require their own special seat designed to cradle them in a crash, and provide protection from many types of crashes.
Like adult seat-belts, child restraints in cars are intended to keep a child firmly secured in their seat so that in the event of sudden braking or collision the child is not thrown against the car interior or ejected from the vehicle. The restraint must absorb kinetic energy (created by the motion of the child during the crash) without itself injuring the child and must be easy to use.
"Child Safety in the Vehicle" is being launched on the 24th of February and families with an income lower than R7500 are invited to apply to receive a child safety seat. Should you have a safety seat in your garage or storeroom, please donate it to them and help them to save a child's life. Call 021 - 785 7656 or 081 311 3223 or email info@drivemoresafely.co.za.
I would love your feedback on this issue! Here is what some of my staff had to say about parents who do not secure their kids in cars:
• "I think that is very irresponsible. You will probably find in most cases that the parents are strapped in and their kids aren't! Ridiculous!"
• "I think it is absolutely disgusting that parents would allow this to happen, there is no such thing as 'I did not have the time' or 'the children were playing up so I just wanted to get home' or 'they just do what they want - it makes life easier'. You cannot control fate but you can be a responsible parent and strap your children in, as it does not have to be you in who is in the wrong, there could always be someone else on the road who is being reckless and who is not paying attention to what they are doing......Please be safe and look your children as they are our future!!!"
• "The only reason for having a child on your lap when you are sitting in the front of a vehicle is if your car is not fitted with airbags because that is what your child becomes!!"
• "I think it is highly irresponsible and everyone should be strapped in, especially in the back seat, as in the event of an accident, the rear passengers often cause the most damage to the passengers in the front and themselves! There is no excuse for not strapping everyone one. And you are breaking the law."
Alice xxx
