"Poof" that car seats are helpful? HELP!

"Proof" that car seats are helpful? HELP!

Ok... I've got some fool online who is adament that car seats really don't do anything. Obviouly he's totally wrong, but I can't convince him unless I provide some studdies. Preferably ones from (his words) a peer reviewed journal. I don't generaly deal with such tough sells, and I'm not all that fond of reading technical stuff so I don't have any such studdies handy... Can anyone help? TIA!

I wouldnt let this person suck you in too much he sounds like he could be a complete moron or just some one who is making your life hard.

I'd look at the CHOP (Children's Hospital of Philadelphia) website. Sounds like the guy is a freakanomics fan or something.

Susan

soygurl said:

Ok... I've got some fool online who is adament that car seats really don't do anything. Obviouly he's totally wrong, but I can't convince him unless I provide some studdies. Preferably ones from (his words) a peer reviewed journal. I don't generaly deal with such tough sells, and I'm not all that fond of reading technical stuff so I don't have any such studdies handy... Can anyone help? TIA!

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This "guy" is either a complete idiot who will probably never "get" it, or most likely, is what is termed an Internet Troll.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_troll

Wineaux said:

This "guy" is either a complete idiot who will probably never "get" it, or most likely, is what is termed an Internet Troll.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_troll

Click to expand...

Tell that to the authors of Freakonomics lol. They have a handy blog going where they battle all dissenters, too.

You can find proof of anything you want, of course. Some people still believe the world is flat, so anything goes.

When you see a study, you need to know what age groups it covers, whether it applies to all passengers or just properly restrained passengers, does it only consider crashes with a fatality, all crashes or those with some threshold on injury measures, etc.

For example, the Freakonomics people will tell you that in their research, child restraints are no more effective than putting a child into a seatbelt and giving them a DVD player to keep them from squirming around. The problem is, to my knowledge, they still haven't had any of their tests or studies published in a respected, peer-reviewed medical or technical journal. Instead, they went for the hype in a money-making book and website.

It's one thing if you convince a parent to take a relatively calm child who is incorrectly restrained in an expired or obsolete overhead shield seat and put them into a seatbelt with a DVD player. Maybe it's true that their risk of a fatal injury hasn't changed much. It's another thing if you do that to a squirmy child who is properly restrained in a 5-point harness. I wish the authors would be at the emergency room to see what happens when that child puts the shoulder belt behind their back and comes in with septic abdominal trauma and a fractured spine because of lap belt related injuries.

I even referred one of the authors to an excellent trauma surgeon who is an expert on seatbelt syndrome injuries, conveniently at their own university. I wonder if they ever had the intestinal fortitude to see one of this physicians' presentations on the topic:-(

Anyway, some good links for studies and statistics are:

http://stokes.chop.edu/programs/injury/our_research/pcps.php

http://www.chop.edu/consumer/jsp/division/generic.jsp?id=77971

http://www.usa.safekids.org/tier3_cd.cfm?content_item_id=1133&folder_id=540

I'm going to stay away from debating whether or not the guy is "for real"... , but while looking at the Kyle Miller video, I saw some other videos about seatbelts, crashes, etc. (BTW, very graphic - awful footage of real-life crashes out there ). There is one video in particular of a guy who with a carcam who rolled the vehicle without a seatbelt on. The video caught the whole thing (I did read that he says s**t in some versions of the video at the end, so I think he did survive). But if a roll over/accident can throw a 200lb man around like that, imagine what it would do to a baby/child who it unrestrained...

Here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TX3VBbf28Vo

ETA: graphic video, btw

Maria

CPSDarren said:

Tell that to the authors of Freakonomics lol. They have a handy blog going where they battle all dissenters, too.

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They are obviously the people whom the Darwin Awards were invented for...

Thanks for the info Darren.
Sorry to everyone else, I should have mentioned that this is a fun, theoretical discusion with a friend of a friend, and after posting last night he finaly told me that his source WAS freakanomics. ARG! And HE was the once "insisting" I provide stuff from peer reviewed journals! Really though, he's not a troll, he does exsist, and he's not making my life horrible. I really thank you for you concern though... probably what I would have told someone else if I had read my post.
Thanks again!

It would be interesting to know if the Freakonomics authors have very young children or relatives and if they transport them in seatbelts.

The major studies from CHOP are all peer-reviewed in respectable medical journals. In fact, that was supposedly why it took them almost a year to respond to the Freakonomics article; they stated they couldn't respond until their latest research had been peer-reviewed and published.

I'd be willing to bet that the if the authors do (or did) have kids, their excuse for USING a car seat would be because "it's the law."

And thanks again for that about the CHOP. Perfect for what I need!

Yeah it's too bad when those pesky rules get in the way of your personal convictions.

That does raise an interesting issue. I wonder when they will be the subject of a lawsuit when some parent claims they took the Freakonomics' advice to break the law and seated their 2-year old in a seatbelt with a DVD player in-hand, resulting in permanent injury or death:-(