Jewels
Senior Community Member
This was sent to me by one of the instructors that I know. It's crazy that so many people don't even think about projectiles!
Caution: A booster seat can injure you
They're designed to enhance children's safety, but unsecured, unoccupied
seats can become dangerous projectiles in a high-speed crash
By RAQUEL RUTLEDGE
rrutledge@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Oct. 27, 2007
George Clark clicked his seat-belt buckle and relaxed in the back seat of
his friend's car as they headed home from a Boy Scout leader training
weekend in Kiel.
It was a warm June afternoon, and Clark, 52, chatted with the other two dads
sitting up front.
Clark paid no attention to the empty booster seat beside him.
Then a car darted across the highway in front of them and they hit it, going
close to 50 mph.
Clark doesn't remember what happened during the impact. But severe injuries
to the left side of his head and face indicate the unsecured booster seat
became airborne and bashed into him, pulverizing his cheekbone, shattering
his jaw and causing other injuries.
Before the crash, Clark, of Mequon, had never considered a booster seat to
be a hazard. When his kids were small, child safety seats were always
secured to the car. He doesn't remember having booster seats, which first
hit store shelves in 1991.
Nothing on the booster seat next to him that June afternoon - no warning
label or anything - suggested it should be belted to the car, he said.
Though some safety experts say it amounts to common sense, buckling in an
empty booster seat isn't the first thing many drivers or passengers
consider.
"It's something people don't think about," said Lynn Clark, George's wife.
"This should go on Good Morning America to tell the world (booster seats)
can become projectiles and seriously hurt people."
As laws change requiring children to stay in booster seats until they're as
old as 8, the likelihood of such injuries will increase - unless parents
become aware of the danger and fasten the seat belt even when their child
isn't in the car, experts say.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does not keep data on how
often people are injured by unsecured booster seats or even on how often
people are hurt by any loose cargo.
But researchers have found that in a collision, especially a frontal one,
unrestrained cargo flies forward with a force exponentially greater than its
weight. At 55 mph, a 20-pound parcel exceeds 1,000 pounds of force. A can of
peas or the family pet can cause serious injury or even death.
Anecdotally, injuries from airborne booster seats are on safety officials'
radars, experts say.
"It's an issue that's grabbed enough attention to change the way they do
training," said Matt Wolfe, a highway safety specialist with the
Transportation Safety Institute, an arm of the U.S. Department of
Transportation.
People who teach firefighters and other child-restraint safety technicians
are instructing them to teach parents to be sure to remove the booster seat
when it's not in use or buckle it up, Wolfe said.
Graco, one of the country's largest makers of booster seats and other
children's products, says it does instruct motorists not to leave a booster
seat in the car unfastened.
"Graco clearly states in the car seat's instruction manual that the seat
needs to be secured in the car when not in use," says spokeswoman Stacy
Becker, in a written statement. "The car seat itself does not include this
labeling."
The P.I. Team found that the same goes for Evenflo, Eddie Bauer, Cosco,
Safety 1st and most other popular booster seat brands. The only booster seat
maker the team could find that posted a warning on the seat was Compass
brand, a division of Learning Curve Brands based in Oak Brook, Ill.
Learning Curve officials say they solicit input from child safety advocates
when designing products, which accounts for why they have the warning label
on their product.
"We give them a crack at it before we ever launch a product," said John
Riedl, the company's vice president of infant gear. "They (safety experts)
know that anything in the car that is not anchored can be a projectile, so
it's something we naturally thought to include."
Cedarburg mom Monika Seefeld wishes warning labels were pasted to all seats.
Her two booster seats were passed down to her by her brother and sister. She
didn't get the instruction manuals.
In May last year Seefeld was in a head-on collision. She had just dropped
off her two older kids - both of whom sat in booster seats - and was driving
with her 2-year-old son, Tyler.
Upon impact, both booster seats went flying in the passenger compartment.
Tyler was struck in the face, and his nose was broken. Scar tissue built up
to such a degree that he struggles to breathe through his nose and needs
surgery, Seefeld said.
"I wish I would have known about it," Seefeld, 37, said. "Nobody ever told
me. I never really heard of it, and after my accident I warned some people
that we should be buckling in the empty booster seats and they were like 'I
never thought of that.' Virtually 100 percent of the mothers I talked to
didn't do that."
George Clark, too, wishes he had known better.
Nearly five months after getting severely battered by a loose booster seat,
Clark is awaiting yet another surgery.
Already his medical bills have topped $60,000, and he still needs work on
his jaw and teeth. Clark hopes his insurance will cover the costs, but he
doesn't know for sure.
"If I had known it could have been a problem, I clearly would have suggested
that maybe we want to take the seat out of the car," he said.
Protect Yourself
. Be sure to read instruction manuals carefully before using booster seats.
. Remove a booster seat when not in use or make sure it is securely fastened
with a seat belt.
. When getting hand-me-downs from friends and relatives, ask for any
instruction manuals they may have saved.
Caution: A booster seat can injure you
They're designed to enhance children's safety, but unsecured, unoccupied
seats can become dangerous projectiles in a high-speed crash
By RAQUEL RUTLEDGE
rrutledge@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Oct. 27, 2007
George Clark clicked his seat-belt buckle and relaxed in the back seat of
his friend's car as they headed home from a Boy Scout leader training
weekend in Kiel.
It was a warm June afternoon, and Clark, 52, chatted with the other two dads
sitting up front.
Clark paid no attention to the empty booster seat beside him.
Then a car darted across the highway in front of them and they hit it, going
close to 50 mph.
Clark doesn't remember what happened during the impact. But severe injuries
to the left side of his head and face indicate the unsecured booster seat
became airborne and bashed into him, pulverizing his cheekbone, shattering
his jaw and causing other injuries.
Before the crash, Clark, of Mequon, had never considered a booster seat to
be a hazard. When his kids were small, child safety seats were always
secured to the car. He doesn't remember having booster seats, which first
hit store shelves in 1991.
Nothing on the booster seat next to him that June afternoon - no warning
label or anything - suggested it should be belted to the car, he said.
Though some safety experts say it amounts to common sense, buckling in an
empty booster seat isn't the first thing many drivers or passengers
consider.
"It's something people don't think about," said Lynn Clark, George's wife.
"This should go on Good Morning America to tell the world (booster seats)
can become projectiles and seriously hurt people."
As laws change requiring children to stay in booster seats until they're as
old as 8, the likelihood of such injuries will increase - unless parents
become aware of the danger and fasten the seat belt even when their child
isn't in the car, experts say.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does not keep data on how
often people are injured by unsecured booster seats or even on how often
people are hurt by any loose cargo.
But researchers have found that in a collision, especially a frontal one,
unrestrained cargo flies forward with a force exponentially greater than its
weight. At 55 mph, a 20-pound parcel exceeds 1,000 pounds of force. A can of
peas or the family pet can cause serious injury or even death.
Anecdotally, injuries from airborne booster seats are on safety officials'
radars, experts say.
"It's an issue that's grabbed enough attention to change the way they do
training," said Matt Wolfe, a highway safety specialist with the
Transportation Safety Institute, an arm of the U.S. Department of
Transportation.
People who teach firefighters and other child-restraint safety technicians
are instructing them to teach parents to be sure to remove the booster seat
when it's not in use or buckle it up, Wolfe said.
Graco, one of the country's largest makers of booster seats and other
children's products, says it does instruct motorists not to leave a booster
seat in the car unfastened.
"Graco clearly states in the car seat's instruction manual that the seat
needs to be secured in the car when not in use," says spokeswoman Stacy
Becker, in a written statement. "The car seat itself does not include this
labeling."
The P.I. Team found that the same goes for Evenflo, Eddie Bauer, Cosco,
Safety 1st and most other popular booster seat brands. The only booster seat
maker the team could find that posted a warning on the seat was Compass
brand, a division of Learning Curve Brands based in Oak Brook, Ill.
Learning Curve officials say they solicit input from child safety advocates
when designing products, which accounts for why they have the warning label
on their product.
"We give them a crack at it before we ever launch a product," said John
Riedl, the company's vice president of infant gear. "They (safety experts)
know that anything in the car that is not anchored can be a projectile, so
it's something we naturally thought to include."
Cedarburg mom Monika Seefeld wishes warning labels were pasted to all seats.
Her two booster seats were passed down to her by her brother and sister. She
didn't get the instruction manuals.
In May last year Seefeld was in a head-on collision. She had just dropped
off her two older kids - both of whom sat in booster seats - and was driving
with her 2-year-old son, Tyler.
Upon impact, both booster seats went flying in the passenger compartment.
Tyler was struck in the face, and his nose was broken. Scar tissue built up
to such a degree that he struggles to breathe through his nose and needs
surgery, Seefeld said.
"I wish I would have known about it," Seefeld, 37, said. "Nobody ever told
me. I never really heard of it, and after my accident I warned some people
that we should be buckling in the empty booster seats and they were like 'I
never thought of that.' Virtually 100 percent of the mothers I talked to
didn't do that."
George Clark, too, wishes he had known better.
Nearly five months after getting severely battered by a loose booster seat,
Clark is awaiting yet another surgery.
Already his medical bills have topped $60,000, and he still needs work on
his jaw and teeth. Clark hopes his insurance will cover the costs, but he
doesn't know for sure.
"If I had known it could have been a problem, I clearly would have suggested
that maybe we want to take the seat out of the car," he said.
Protect Yourself
. Be sure to read instruction manuals carefully before using booster seats.
. Remove a booster seat when not in use or make sure it is securely fastened
with a seat belt.
. When getting hand-me-downs from friends and relatives, ask for any
instruction manuals they may have saved.
