Question Using lap belts

mlohry · Apr 27, 2011

My kids are brought to and from school everyday, by myself. I constantly see things that I cringe at every single day. The thing I see the most are 3 kids in the backseat of a car, with only lap belts in the middle. Obviously I know this is horribly dangerous for a kid, but if someone would ask me, would never happen. Who is the best to put in a lap belt, oldest, youngest, doesn't matter at all. I was just thinking of maturation of hip bones.

My DS has a classic car that only has lap belts, he uses one, but is obviously grown. We know it's not ideal for him, but try to convince him not to drive his baby... Thankfully it's only for a few short, summer months a few times a week. Our boys use 86Y harnesses in the car. I only go in it maybe once a year, it's the boys' car!

joolsplus3 · Apr 27, 2011

I try to get the oldest to be the one in the lapbelt, if there's no other choice (like, putting a carseat in that spot).... larger, stronger hipbones, and proportionately smaller head, so less overall risk of serious abdominal or head injury.
Not that anyone even in my own family believes me, because it's always been 'put the littlest in the middle' as the rule of thumb and no one remembers not to do that in our one family lapbelt spot (a 91 Explorer the kids have been in about 5 times in 8 years...).

What's really disturbing is when people don't tighten the lapbelt...I've seen kids come into checks and the lapbelt is just flopping loose

luckyclov · Apr 27, 2011

Isn't your DS kinda young to have his own car?

mlohry · Apr 27, 2011

clov878 said:
Isn't your DS kinda young to have his own car?

Can you tell I should have been sleeping when I wrote this???

Pixels · Apr 27, 2011

Julie, wouldn't the longer torso of a bigger child mean that they are at more risk of serious head injury, because they are more likely to reach to hit the vehicle interior?

joolsplus3 · Apr 27, 2011

Pixels said:
Julie, wouldn't the longer torso of a bigger child mean that they are at more risk of serious head injury, because they are more likely to reach to hit the vehicle interior?

All I can find is this old NHTSA study based on FARS data... "Back seat lap belts reduce the risk of head injuries while increasing the risk of abdominal injuries in potentially fatal frontal crashes" and "Children ages 5-14 appear to derive the greatest incremental benefit from using back seat lap/shoulder belts rather than just a lap belt. The incremental effectiveness of lap/shoulder belts is 26 percent for children."
http://www.nhtsa.gov/cars/rules/regrev/evaluate/808945.html

I suppose being taller could lead to increased risk of hitting the front seatbacks (thinking only of cars that have lapbelts in the center, not pre-1989 cars with all lapbelts), but it doesn't really appear to be the case, though my presumption about relative head size may indeed be wrong, the results are the same

mlohry · Apr 27, 2011

Good info, thanks! Basically we all know, no one should use a lap belt. With of course the exception of my hubby who would act like a toddler if I told him he couldn't drive his baby anymore!!

Question Using lap belts

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