Strapping young children into seat belts instead of car booster seats significantly increases their risk of death and serious injury, a study shows.
The results bolster the federal government's safety campaign promoting booster seats for youngsters who have outgrown child safety seats. That category includes children about 4 to 8 years old weighing 40 to 80 pounds, and those who are less than 58 inches tall.
''Correct seat belt fit is not usually achieved until a child is 9 years old,'' wrote the authors, led by Dr. Flaura K. Winston of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania, whose study appears in the June issue of Pediatrics, the medical journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
At that age a child is usually tall enough to sit against the back of the car's seat and of sufficient height to have the car's own shoulder belt fit snugly across the shoulder and chest. plugs.
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Reproduced with permission from: The Arizona Republic Byline: Associated Press ©Copyright 2000 Arizona Republic |
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