News Release

NLMA urges use of child safety seats in motor vehicles

Booster seats should be mandatory

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January 3, 2006

Every year in this province, more than 70 children are seriously injured in motor vehicle accidents. The correct use of child safety seats can prevent crash-related deaths and serious injuries to young passengers in three-quarters of accidents.

“The proper use of child safety seats, from the first ride home from the hospital until the child is big enough to use a regular seatbelt, has been proven to be one of the most successful safety innovations for motor vehicles,” said Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association President Dr. Tom Costello. “The only safe way to keep small children protected in cars is with infant carriers, child seats and booster car seats.”

Dr. Costello noted that while parents are well educated about the benefits of using infant carriers and child car seats, they are less informed about the benefits of using booster seats for children over 18 kg (40 lbs).

Dr. Costello said that the NLMA recommends that children between 18 and 36 kg (40 to 80 lbs) with a standing height of less than 145 cm (4.7 feet), generally children between of four and eight years of age, be properly secured in booster seats in the back seat of a vehicle. This recommendation is in keeping with recommendations in a position paper released December 20 by the NLMA and other health groups.

In this age group, booster seats are the safest way to position a seat belt correctly over a child’s body. Children restrained by an incorrectly positioned seatbelt may be seriously injured or even killed in a sudden stop or collision. Although all provinces and territories require by legislation the use of restraint systems for children up to about four years, children aged four to eight often graduate too soon to seat belts, increasing their risk of injuries, disability and death, said Dr. Costello.

Dr. Costello said the NLMA would like to see more awareness around the safe transportation of children under 12 years of age, with an emphasis on proper installation of child restraint systems and the use of booster seats for older children.

“In addition, the NLMA encourages the provincial government to upgrade its current legislation to include and require booster seats for children between 40 and 80 lbs, in keeping with the recommendations of the Position Paper on Child Passenger Safety.”

Again this year, the NLMA presented an infant car seat to the first baby born in each of the province’s 12 hospitals that perform deliveries.

Dr. Costello said the intent of the program is to encourage all parents to use approved car seats for their children right from the moment they leave hospital as newborns.

“Parents should pay close attention to how they place their child in the seat and ensure the seats are being used as they were designed,” said Dr. Costello, adding that the safest place for children under 12 years of age is in the back seat of the vehicle, away from dangers such as front-on collisions and front-seat airbags.

Physicians in Newfoundland and Labrador have been providing a safer ride home for newborns at hospitals around the province for almost 20 years.

To date, more than 220 car seats have been presented to families of newborns. The NLMA would like to acknowledge the Wal-Mart stores in Carbonear, Clarenville, Corner Brook, Gander, Grand Falls-Windsor, Labrador City, Marystown, Stephenville and St. John's (including the stores on Kelsey Dr. for the Health Sciences Centre, Aberdeen Ave. for Curtis Memorial Hospital in St. Anthony and in Mount Pearl for the LeGrow Health Centre in Port-aux-Basques) and Goose Home Hardware in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, who generously donated seats for the babies born in their communities, as well as Eastern Express and Sameday-Right-O-Way couriers, who shipped the seats to St. Anthony and Port-aux-Basques.