Extraordinary cargo, extraordinary protection

I reminded readers the other day that, "the Department of Transportation is, among other things, a safety agency."

Today, I want to reinforce that point by introducing some new child car seat safety actions: a consumer program to help parents and caregivers find a child seat that fits best in their vehicle, stringent new side-impact standards for child seats, and even better frontal-imapct standards for these seats. We move a lot of goods on American roads, but these new measures are designed to protect our most precious cargo: infants and children.

I recently ordered the National Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA) to conduct a comprehensive internal review of child car seat policy. That review team of 30 experts has finished its work. They have recommended the new side-impact standards as well as increased stringency on front-impact standards. Although NTHSA standards for front-impact currently exceed 99.5% of all real-world collisions, we know we can do better for our kids.

NHTSA will also institute a new program to make it easier for parents to choose child safety seats for their specific vehicles. Manufacturers will recommend specific seats in various price ranges that work best for individual vehicles. We'd like to see this program begin with the 2011 model year.  Car manufacturers including Nissan and others in Europe already provide similar recommendations, so full implementation here shouldn't be complicated.

Perhaps most troubling about this review is the report that half of all children between the ages of zero and seven-years-old, who were killed in motor vehicle crashes, were not in child safety seats at all. It won't matter how safe our child car seats are if we don't use them to buckle up our children, and use them well. I hope we can all agree that extraordinary cargo deserves extraordinary protection.

Comments

[JM Palacios]

I'm sure this had nothing to do with Volvo's recent push for vehicle-specific child safety seats? If so, that was pretty good timing. http://www.autoblog.com/2009/04/21/report-federal-laws-keeping-volvo-from-offering-safer-child-sea/

[Mark Kaepplein]

Car seat mandates have increased the nation's dependence on foreign oil by encouraging parents to buy large SUVs and minivans which are easier to get kids in and out of than fuel efficient compact cars. The Cash for Clunkers program big winners were parents whose children outgrew seats, so they could return to driving sedans. Increased SUV use has worsened numerous safety problems including parents backing up over their own children, poorer visibility for others, and causing more crash damage to smaller, fuel efficient vehicles.

With all the problems associated with child car seats, including most being used incorrectly, its time to stop polishing dung and try something else. I suggest shoulder belts of adjustable height and anti-submarine belts that can at least be used for older kids. I'm sure this and other better ideas were proposed as alternatives to car seats earlier. By lessening the attractiveness of SUVs, another safety and fuel saving benefit is reaped, less need for ever more stringent, weight increasing, crash protection standards.

Its about time DOT started considering fuel economy in road design. Most "traffic calming" features produce frustration and road rage. They encourage buyers to prefer better acceleration over economy by providing ever more opportunities to accelerate by requiring more slow downs. Regulators don't personally understand driving frustration because they are able to work in an environment where enduring slow progress is an essential job survival skill. Much of the public lack this skill.

[Evo Exhaust]

The seat laws have gotten out of hand. I am all for safety, but like K+JM said above, I had to buy a larger car, because you can't fit 3 child seats ( 2 and a booster) in a regular car anymore. So now I have a larger car payment, more of a gas guzzler, plus I have to spend more money to buy more car seats, and then booster seats. The way things are headed, my kids will probably be in boosters until they are in junior high.