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Booster Seats Find a New Backer – Science
An announcement from a bunch of famous number crunchers this morning almost spelled an end to the booster seat. But not so fast – also released is an announcement from a bunch of children’s health professionals who say the booster seat is saving kids.
The researchers at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Center for Injury Research and Prevention found there’s a forty-five percent reduction in risk of injury for kids in booster seats in an accident than for kids wearing just a seatbelt.
Which is interesting in light of the numbers spit out by the authors of SuperFreakonomics earlier: they say the fatality rate for kids in car seats is 18.2 percent, while with seat belts it’s 18.1. They were talking about ditching the seats for kids over two – which brings us to booster seats.
Let’s face it – if a crash is so bad that it kills your kid in a car seat, chances are it’s going to kill your kid in a seat belt too. So is it that surprising that the SuperFreakonomics folks found the numbers were pretty close?
Fortunately the numbers also mean less than twenty percent of the accidents in the U.S. are actually killing babies. So let’s move on to the other EIGHTY percent of the accidents, shall we?
The study from Children’s Hospital in Pediatrics took a look at more than seven thousand kids involved in real crashes over a nine-year span. The kids studied ranged in ages from four to eight as a means to look at the increasing rates of booster seat usage in the states and whether it’s worth it.
According to the scientists: it is. Regardless of whether the booster seat had a back or was backless, the researchers found they were forty-five percent less likely to sustain injuries in a crash, with the greatest amount of safety afforded in a side-impact crash.
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[...] Center for Injury Research and Prevention found there’s a forty-five percent reduction in risk of injury for kids in booster seats in an accident than for kids wearing just a seatbelt. Might be worth it even if they’re [...]
NY Changes Booster Seat Law In Time for Holiday Travel | Strollerderby commented on Nov 24 09 at 12:33 pmsnarky mama commented on Oct 21 09 at 11:32 pmJeez Louise. Just get a damn booster seat. Is it really worth NOT having it?
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