By Nicki Gullickson, EMT, Amery Area EMS Ambulance Coordinator
I have always heard the saying, “you grow older and wiser”. As a teenager and young adult you really don’t understand the meaning. Working in EMS for 14 years, getting married and having children, I will tell you what this saying means to me.
At the age of 16, like most teenagers that age, I got my driver’s license. I wore my seatbelt when family was with, in fear of my parents taking away my car. When driving with friends, wearing a seatbelt was not an option.
As the years went by, I was riding as an Explorer with the ambulance service. I witnessed the aftermath of many motor vehicle crashes. I saw people walk away, some seriously injured and some that didn’t make it. I don’t think, even back then, that I really thought much about why or even how someone could walk away from such a mangled, violent mess of a vehicle. But I started to wear my seatbelt every time I got in a vehicle.
About five years ago, I became a Child Car Seat Technician. I was pregnant at the time with our first child. This class was very intense. I had no idea the concept of crash forces and what it could do, to a vehicle, let alone a person. Sure, I seen injuries that people had from crashes every day; but I never really understood the magnitude. We learned about how to install car seats safely in vehicles, make sure the child is in the proper seat and secured in the car seat correctly. This class was unbelievable; no wonder parents have a hard time using car seats correctly; there are so many things to remember.
Here is what I found so interesting, I would like everyone to think about the next time you ride in a vehicle. Now, I am not going to get into the mathematical equations of Newton’s Second Law, because let’s face it, I was never very good at math. I would like you to think about this. For every motor vehicle crash, there are three crashes: 1st – Car striking another object (car, tree, etc.), 2nd – Body striking steering wheel, side door, etc. 3rd – Your internal organs striking your chest and abdominal wall
So, in order to reduce the crash forces on people, they made seatbelts and car seat harness webbing out of material that will stretch and allow our bodies to be held in place and not strike the steering wheel, windshield, doors, etc. I don’t want to forget to mention that the seatbelt also holds you inside the vehicle, most of the time when someone is ejected from a vehicle while it is rolling; the vehicle tends to roll over them.
So while seatbelts are a really good thing, there is a problem with seatbelts. They are not made for children that have not hit puberty. Children’s bone structures, mostly the pelvic bone does not mature until the child hits puberty. So if they use just the seatbelt in vehicles, and there is a crash, there could be devastating results. The best way to protect children is to make sure they are in car seat or booster seat that is made for their size. Car seats and booster seat manufacturers will have an age, height and weight standards that they recommend (it is better to follow the weight and height requirements). These recommendations have been tested, and are printed as FMVSS 213 (Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards).
As I close, I want to leave you with a few important safety reminders:
- Everyone should be buckled up in a vehicle. Anyone that is not belted, will be a projectile, in a crash and can seriously injure or result in death of the others riding with them.
- Remember to clean out your vehicle; tool boxes, toys, etc. can also become projectiles in a crash.
- Children under the age of 12 should never ride in the front seat, whether they are in a car seat or not. Frontal airbags are made for adults, not for kids, the force of the airbag could seriously injure or result in death of a child in the front seat.
The following car seat recommendations for children are the based on the latest studies by the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration. Wisconsin State Laws have not been updated to these current standards.
If anyone has any questions about car seats or would like to have me check to make sure it is installed correctly, I would be happy to do so, free of charge. Please contact Nicki Gullickson at 715-268-8698. |