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Studies show that the use of vehicle occupant restraints such as seat belts and child safety seats cut down injury severity
by 60%, hospital admissions by 69% and treatment costs by 66%. Using a seat belt and using child safety seats properly have
been proven to save lives!
The Law
All 50 states, including Arizona, have child safety seat laws in place. In Arizona, children under 5 years old transported
in vehicles must be properly restrained. Drivers not complying with the State regulation are subject to a $50 fine (first
offense) if stopped by law enforcement authorities. Arizona is one of 34 states that require children under 16 years old to
be covered under safety belt or child restraint laws. Some Tribal communities have adopted State safety belt and child
restraint laws, or have developed their own laws.
The Right Way to Install Child Safety Seats
Selecting and installing the right child safety seat can be a daunting task for parents and caregivers. With hundreds of
types of child safety seats available in the market and even more vehicles on the road to install the seats in, it is easy to
see why parents and caregivers have such a hard time installing child safety seats correctly. Fortunately, design
improvements continue to be made by manufacturers based on recommendations by NHTSA and other safety advocates. The advent
of the LATCH system (Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children), for instance, gives caregivers a safe and more secure
alternative to installing child safety seats beyond the vehicle’s seat belt system.
For more information about how to properly install child safety seats, contact the IHS Office of Environmental Health &
Engineering. The following web sites also provide excellent information about child
passenger safety products and topics:
www.NHTSA.gov,
www.safekids.org,
www.carseat.org,
and www.nsc.org.
Taken in part from an article by Vincent Slayton-Garcia, District Environmental Health Officer, Office of Environmental
Health & Engineering, Western Arizona District IHS Office, (480) 592-0091
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Native American children ages 1-9 die from motor vehicle crashes than from any other cause nationwide. The National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that as many as 30,500 children under 5 years old annually are injured in
motor vehicle collisions. In 1997, for instance, of the 604 children who died in motor vehicle crashes, about 420 would have
survived had they been properly restrained (Sachs and Tombrello 2000). In car seat “check-up” events nationwide, including
Native American communities, estimates show that up to 95% of car seats are improperly installed or used by caregivers.
Issues and reasons often encountered and cited at these check-up events include non-use of car seats, incompatibility of car
seats and vehicles, and the challenge of changing behavior patterns.
