Baby Chairs in Cars – Citton’s Advice

Nov 2017

There are many valid reasons why it is vital to have baby chairs in cars,  in addition to the use of seat-belts to restrain children while on the road. Even if, as a mom, you are only nipping down to the shops for a litre of milk. Also note that it would be advisable to never, ever leave your baby or toddler in the car. Accidents only take a split second to happen.
Personal safety and responsible parenting are the order of the day – after all, you don’t want to be just another statistic simply because you were in a hurry.

Here are some hard, cold facts regarding the use of both seat belts and baby chairs in cars:

Baby chairs in cars reduces the risk of contact from within the vehicle therefore reducing the severity of injuries should this happen.
The use of a baby seat distributes the forces of an accident over the strongest body parts.
When involved in an accident, baby seats or the use of seat-belts prevent the toddler or baby from being flung from the vehicle.
A baby or toddler being hurled around in a car could cause severe injury to other family members in the car.
Ejection from cars is one of the most harmful actions in a crash. With 75% of all vehicle occupants ejected from a vehicle not surviving from an accident as a direct result.
Seat-belts are successful in preventing ejections: all in all 44% of unrestrained passenger vehicle occupants killed are ejected, either completely or partially from the vehicle, as in comparison to only 5% of restrained occupants.
According to stats United States studies have shown that child safety seats that are appropriately installed and used for children aged 0–4 years can decrease the need for hospitalization as much as by 69%.
The risk of death for infants is reduced by 70% and for children from the ages of 1–4 years by as much as 47–54%.
Children under the ages of 5 years; 485 lives could have been saved in the United States in 2002 if all the children had been in child safety seats and strapped into baby chairs in cars.
**Stats are taken from Arrive Alive South Africa: www.arrivealive.co.za
The next time you are in a rush to get to the shops before they close, remember all it takes to kill your child is a couple of seconds – you need to ask yourself if all you needed to do was take a couple of minutes to strap your little one in to prevent all that unnecessary heartache and trauma. Prevention is always better than cure – baby chairs in cars have been designed by specialists for a reason.