Child restraints found 30pc safer

Still from a US traffic safety video. Photo / NHTSA

Children strapped into the right kind of car restraint are nearly 30 per cent less likely to die in a car crash than if they are held only by a seatbelt, American research indicates.

If not restrained even by an adult seatbelt, they are likely to be flung around in the car in a serious crash or ejected like a high-speed missile, according to the study in a US journal.

All of which puts them at high risk of severe injury or death.

Opinions vary on the likely fate of a 5-year-old sitting on the knee of a seatbelt-restrained adult in the front passenger seat of a car with an airbag on that side.

Wanganui Mayor Michael Laws was fined last Sunday for driving with a child on the lap of a front-seat passenger.

Commenting on the case this week, Starship intensive care specialist Dr Liz Segedin said a front-seat passenger would not be able to hold a child in a serious crash and the airbag would kill the child.

Mr Laws defended his driving, saying it was a situation in which "a mother offered a sick and distressed infant some instant comfort" in early morning traffic.

The Automobile Association's general manager of technical services, Stella Stocks, said yesterday that the child's death or survival would depend on the nature of the accident.

"The airbag could potentially stop them hitting the windscreen.

"Airbags are pretty sturdy. There would be some damage [to the child] as a result of hitting an airbag."

She said front airbags were designed to protect the head - of people restrained by a seatbelt - from hitting the steering wheel or dashboard.

An unrestrained child on a seatbelted adult's knee could be injured by being squashed between the adult and the airbag, she said.

Safekids says using an adult seatbelt can be dangerous for children because they generally sit over the neck and the stomach.

If the child puts an arm over the belt to hold it lower, the body can fold in half in a crash, causing severe injuries to the spinal cord and internal organs.

"Children also receive head injuries because they are more likely to move about within the car on impact.

"Their heads are more likely to hit the inside of the vehicle, causing neck, brain or facial injuries.

"Because of their small size some children are completely ejected from the car, despite having a fastened safety belt. This situation usually results in severe injury or death."

Safekids cited the US study, published in the journal Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, in its bid to persuade the Government to make the use of booster seats mandatory from the age of 5 until a child is 148cm tall, a height reached on average at age 11.

At present, drivers must ensure any child under 5 in the car is held by a properly fitted child restraint of the right size - a booster seat, car seat or baby capsule, depending on the child's age.

Children aged 5 to 7 must be in a child restraint if one is in the car or, like older children, generally in a seatbelt.

The Government has not yet considered whether to compel drivers to strap children 5 and older into booster seats, but the Transport Ministry professes to wanting to improve the rate of correct use of child restraints and make booster seat use the norm by 2020 for children aged 5 to 10.