Injuries to Children in Motor Vehicle Accidents

by Amitabh Shukla

Every year, thousands of American children are either injured or killed in motor vehicle accidents. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP) reports that the leading causes of accidental child (aged 14 and under) injuries and death are due to motor vehicle collisions.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control and other, it was found that 1451 children between the ages of 0-15 died due to vehicle-related death in the year 2005. Among these, nearly half the children died because they were unrestrained or improperly restrained. The leading cause of children death was found to be airbag injury, while the second cause was pedestrian injury between the ages 1-2.

What are the Causes of Children Death and Injury due to Vehicular Accident?

Following were identified as the most likely causes:

• Improper installation of child safety seats

• Improper use of booster seats or safety seats

• Placing children close to the airbag in the front passenger seat

• Letting children ride in the cargo area of pickup trucks

• Leaving them unattended in cars

• Pedestrian Injury

How to Prevent Injuries to Children in Motor Vehicle Accidents? 

Tips to prevent injuries to children in motor vehicle accidents are:

Proper Use of Safety Restraints: 

Since children are physically small, safety belts designed for average adults do not fit them properly. However, it may not be appropriate to place adult shoulder belts without the safety of booster seat (for those who have outgrown their safety seats).

Proper Use of Child Safety Seats: 

Majority of children safety seats have been found to be either improperly installed or are used when vehicles are checked. Some of the mistakes that are overlooked - safety belt do not hold the seat correctly, the harness straps in safety belts are not routed correctly, etc.

Avoid the Danger of Airbags: 

Airbags when properly used can save lives of adults. But the same airbag can cause fatal injury to head and neck of children when they are placed too close to them, in the front seat. Experts suggest that the safest place for young children inside the car is the rear seat, which is away from the impact of head on collisions.

Avoid Placing Children in the Cargo Area of Pickup Trucks: 

Because of space constraint, many adults are forced to place their kids or young children in the cargo areas of pickup trucks. However, this can increase the risk of dying ten times in children when there is collision. Covered cargo areas can also pose danger because of risk of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Avoid Leaving Your Children Unattended in Cars: 

Children, being inquisitive in nature, may like to explore the car; they can lock themselves in the car trunk. Living them unattended can be dangerous. Moreover, cold temperature or heat build up inside the car can also become dangerous to the safety of children.

To find out more about Amitabh's work and read articles written by him visit his Parenting website.

About the Author

Every year, thousands of American children are either injured or killed in motor vehicle accidents. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP) reports that the leading causes of accidental child (aged 14 and under) injuries and death are due to motor vehicle collisions.

Keeping Kids safe online

by Lisa Reese

There was a report published in a local newspaper detailing how a teenager befriended a stranger in a chatroom on the Internet, agreed to meet up with him for a date, and was subsequently raped by the man.

This is not the first time such an incident has occurred, you may say, but these incidents are likely to be repeated - what with the Net increasingly becoming an integral part of the lives of children and young people, a virtual place where they spend a good portion of their , every day.

While the youngsters may be more technologically savvy than most adults and are adept at surfing the Net, the fact remains that they are just kids.

As in real life, the virtual world requires one to be street smart and able to make judgment calls that need a certain level of mental and social maturity which only can be achieved when one has clocked in enough years and experience. If not, one could easily fall prey to all sorts of predators online. And for kids, as seen in the news report cited, this can be tragic.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) also has noted this fact and adopted the theme, Protecting children in cyberspace to mark World Telecommunication and Information Society (WSIS) Day.

Recognizing the needs of children and young people and their safety online, ITU has affirmed the need to "strengthen action to protect children from abuse and defend their rights in the context of ICT".

ITU's Child Online Protection initiative is in line with its mandate to establish the foundations for a safe and secure cyberworld for future generations.

The argument behind this initiative is that a decade ago, there were just 182 million people using the Internet globally. But by early this year, there were over 1.5 billion Internet users worldwide, and over 400 million of them had access to broadband.

As the Internet grows steadily as a common resource, ITU cites that there are increasing dangers online, particularly for children.

This point is backed by the fact that over 60 per cent of children and teenagers talk in chatrooms on a daily basis, with 75 per cent of the children online willing to share personal information about themselves and their family in exchange for goods and services. Studies have found that one in five children will be targeted by a predator or pedophile each year.

Of course, there are suggestions to bar children and identified predators from certain sites on the Net to keep children safe. Even if there are laws in place to do this, technology is always a pace ahead.

The Internet will only get bigger, and it's up to all of us to make it a safer place for all.

About the Author

I am Lisa Reese.  At http://www.AffiliateCashElite.com you will learn a proven method on how to drive an insane traffic to your website with a push of a button right from the comfort of your home.