Little kids in the car, use the right car seat correctly

[Tobra]

My wife is a nurse and was first on scene at a car accident about an hour ago near our house. There was a two year old child in a booster seat, rather than the appropriate car seat for kid that age. She did CPR on the child until the ambulance got there. They took the kid to the hospital in an ambulance, but she tells me the kid was dead before she started working on him.

If you have kid, use the right car seat. If you see someone putting a little kid in a booster seat instead of a car seat, tell them the story I just told you.



She is sort of messed up about it, gotta go.

[plumb4u2]

this is sad and goes to show that some people are not meant to be parents

[VINMAN]

I see this all the time. some parents just don't take the time to find out how to use the seat correctly.

We had a triple fatal MVA Tuesday afternoon. Two of the victims were a 20 y/o male and a 19 y/o female in a Jetta. Head on with an SUV at very high speed. There was a car seat in the rear of the Jetta. Luckily it was unoccupied..

[porsche4life]

So sad. Such a shame. That's why I havent taken the boys out in the 944. I can't find a booster seat that will fit in the back.

[ledhedsymbols]

My wife and I were just discussing when we would look at moving our youngest from the car seat to a booster... Reckon we'll just wait as long as we can.

[billybek]

We are using a booster with full sides and a back at this time for our six year old.
It is suppose to be good until he is up to 65 lbs and very supportive.
Think it is a Dionalo or something like that. Very well built and comfortable.

Sorry your Mrs. had to go through that Tobra.

[GH85Carrera]

Do they ever prosecute the driver for that? They should be charged with manslaughter.

[Tobra]

I kept my grandson in that 4 point seat until he was like 6, but he is pretty slim.

So he had a femoral pulse when she got him, gone pretty quickly though. Wife is diminutive, covered the nostrils and mouth and got a good seal for CPR. Had to throw away all her clothes when she got home, down to the bra and socks. Trust and believe you don't want further details.

GD, V Man I don't know how you can go to places like that on purpose. Just hearing about it freaks me out, and that is without the sights and smells. She says she is good at it and someone has to do it. She sort of went off on the parents after, lost it a little and the cops had to pull her off them. She sat down and cried for about 15 minutes before she went home, only 2 blocks way.

[unclebilly]

How did the incorrect seat result in his death?

I ask this because we are looking at moving my 4 year old into a booster and my 14 month old into a forward facing right now.

[herr_oberst]

I'm sorry your wife had to go through that, Tobra. I can't even imagine.

Same goes for you, Vinnie, and all the rescue workers on the board.

I don't think I could ever shut that movie off....

[VINMAN]

Unclebill, car seats are based on the weight and size of the child. The seat needs to be sized correctly, to properly restrain them in it. I've seen kids thrown out of them because they were in the wrong type of seat.

[unclebilly]

I understand. We have always bought Britax seats for our kids which rate decently in crash safety.

My son is no longer comfortable and we want to move him into a booster but I want something I can get into the early and late 930 sport seats.

[VINMAN]

Originally Posted by Tobra

GD, V Man I don't know how you can go to places like that on purpose. Just hearing about it freaks me out, and that is without the sights and smells. She says she is good at it and someone has to do it. She sort of went off on the parents after, lost it a little and the cops had to pull her off them. She sat down and cried for about 15 minutes before she went home, only 2 blocks way.

One important trait you need as an emergency service worker, is the ability to keep your composure and restraint, to keep from wanting to beat the crap out of someone who severely injured or killed someone because of their stupidity. Especially when it involves a child. Its tough to do. been there way too many times.
A few years back we had an MVA , woman in a minivan full of kids. Driving in a storm that nobody has any business being out in. Hit a pole, rolled the van about three times, into a another pole She was belted in, half the kids weren't restrained properly. Was about a 45 min extrication to get everyone out. she barely got a scratch. Had to put medevac on standby for two of the kids, but the couldn't fly because of the weather. Thought we were gonna lose them. the 3 other kids were banged up pretty bad. She was extremely shook up and distraught, but I ended up losing it and going off on her. Bad thing, especially from a command officer. I ended up apologizing to her a couple days later.

[GG Allin]

I was in absolutely no rush to move my daughter in to a booster. She's 6 now and still seems to be too small.

[billybek]

You could try ours in your car, Scott.
Baby Car Seats | Child Car Seats | Calgary AB Canada | Kacz' Kids
They have been discontinued but there are still some available new.

[stomachmonkey]

For anyone in doubt go to your local Fire Department.

There should be one if not several fine folk on staff trained in proper seat installation.

They will check it for you and make sure it's right.

I was confident I had my kids in perfect till I was shown the light.

[stomachmonkey]

Sorry for your wife Tobra.

At least she was there and tried.

[Christien]

Originally Posted by unclebilly

How did the incorrect seat result in his death?

I ask this because we are looking at moving my 4 year old into a booster and my 14 month old into a forward facing right now.

In general, the car's seat belt needs to rest over top of the pelvic bones and the collarbone, rather than the stomach and the neck, when using a booster seat. If you put the child in the booster seat, do up the belt and find it's on their stomach or neck, they're too small and should still be in a full car seat. Because of its shape and size and how I installed the 3-point in the 911, our eldest was out of a booster seat in that car before she was out of it in the odyssey, because the belt sat too low on her in the booster seat. But that's unusual.

I'll put out another vote for getting kids restrained properly. Go to a clinic if you're not sure. A cop once told me she used her night stick to really get tension on the straps - I used a hammer shift, which worked great. I was really pissed at my FIL once when he came to pick up our kids and the car seats were barely strapped in, with no tension at all. I checked every single time after that. I got the old "oh when we were kids we didn't have these seats and we were fine" bs line. Look at the numbers - child fatality rates are a fraction of what they were 30 years ago, mostly due to advances in car seat safety.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by porsche4life

So sad. Such a shame. That's why I havent taken the boys out in the 944. I can't find a booster seat that will fit in the back.

Recaro ProBooster, on Amazon for less than $100. It has a nice narrow base that was a perfect fit in my 996 back seats.

[Baz]

Sorry for your wife's stressful event, Tob - I don't envy her in dealing with that, but appreciate her sense of public service.

Now for my editorial.....

Too many parents dragging their kids around in traffic going places they don't need to go. Going out on the highway is a RISK these days. Do you really feel we are (as a society) receiving as much public safety assistance and education as possible?

If we were - we would be seeing PSA's on how to properly restrained a child in a vehicle.........instead of 24/7 coverage of Ferguson.

And traffic enforcement would be concentrating on managing poor driving rather than speeding.

Going somewhere in a vehicle is a GAMBLE these days.

Of course many parents do not understand it is a matter of SURVIVAL - pure and simple.

I see it EVERY DAY.

Bottom line....as Justin points out in post #2:

some people are not meant to be parents