MEDICAL SURFARI; SAVE A CHILD DURIN GNATIONAL CHILD PASSENGER SAFETY WEEK

Sunday will be the kick-off day for National Child Passenger Safety Week. This is an issue that should involve all of us. Since I moved to this community, I have taken care of several children involved in one or another type of automobile accident. And despite valiant efforts on the part of our local emergency medical services and a variety of nurses and physicians, we have witnessed the tragic loss of young lives. I can confidently say that this is an issue that affects all of us because I have personally witnessed the broad public outpouring of support for the families of these children. This support came from friends and family members, elder adults who have raised their children, individuals without children, single parents, local business owners, divorced parents and even other children.

It's everyone's problem

Every 14 seconds, someone in America is injured in a traffic crash, and every 12 minutes someone is killed in a crash. Traffic-related injuries are the leading cause of all injury deaths in America and the leading cause of death for people ages 6 through 27. The current seat belt use rate in America is 68 percent. Half of the children under age 5 who die in traffic crashes are not secured in child safety seats. And in some observational studies, nearly 80 percent of child safety seats in use were not being used correctly.

Child safety seats are the most effective occupant protection devices used in motor vehicles today.

Children are killed or injured from being thrown against dashboards and windshields in a crash or from being ejected from the vehicle. Properly securing children in vehicles is the easiest and most effective protection against this type of injury. When a car has a collision or suddenly stops at 20 mph, an unrestrained baby can hit the dashboard or windshield with the force of 400 pounds. At 30 mph, a 125-pound adult is thrown forward with the force of nearly two tons. A child on the adult's lap can be crushed between the adult and the vehicle. Seat belts and child safety seats are not 100 percent effective. The children involved in some of the recent local tragedies were properly secured and their deaths were not prevented. Sometimes the forces involved in car crashes are simply too great for anything to prevent injury. However, a correctly used seat belt and safety seat prevents a child from being thrown about or out of the vehicle and distributes the force of the crash more evenly over the child's body, which will prevent a fatality about 70 percent of the time.

In 1996, it is estimated that 365 children under age 5 were saved because of child restrain use. During the same year, there were about 560 deaths that could have been prevented if there was 100 percent use of child safety seats.

Everyone in our community can participate by taking some responsibility on this issue. Every time you get in a car be responsible for checking to be sure that everyone is buckled up and ensuring that all children in the vehicle are properly restrained. There is also an opportunity for local businesses and public and private organizations, as well as individuals who recognize their responsibility and who have felt the loss of a friend or family member in an automobile crash. Please consider donating a car seat or sponsoring a child injury prevention presentation so that we may effectively teach children behavior patterns that will give them their best opportunity for health and well-being for the rest of their lives. Let me know how you would like to help.

World Wide Web Resources

Child Passenger Safety

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/childps/

An informative web site from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. This will give you information on everything from properly installing child restraint seats to a listing of recalled child safety seats and also the most popular items on Child Passenger Safety.

National Safety Council

http://www.nsc.org/index.htm

This home page will provide links to visit the National Safety Belt Coalition site for fun, educational activities for kids to teach them about the importance of buckling up. Check out "The Buckle Up Game" and also the "Saf-T Rangers Activity Book."

Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety

http:/www.saferoads.org/

This site has general information on a wide array of topics.

Dr. Scott Gibbs is a neuro surgeon and editor-in-chef of Mosby's Medical Surfari. You may e-mail questions to him at drgibbs@semissourian.com or write in care of the Southeast Missourian, P.O. Box 699, Cape Girardeau, Mo., 63701.