Feature story - Home Front Magazine

SPONSOR

Scooter Link: Your medical equipment superstore

MAIN MENU

- Home
- Feature stories
- From the editor
- Just a thought
- Small blessings
- You are not alone
- Come and get it
- Then and now
- Fun pages
- Advertising info
- Helpful links New
- About Us

LEARN HOW TO MAKE OUR TYPE LARGER

Car seat tips for grandparents
Published June 2000

(NAPS) - In a nationwide poll on child passenger safety, it was revealed that 21 percent of grandparents - one out of five - said they never use a child safety seat when their grandchildren (eight years of age or younger) are passengers in their car. The poll was commissioned by automaker Nissan North America Inc.

Child safety awareness is more than just a parent issue: studies indicate more than five million grandparents in the U.S. serve as primary child care providers for working parents.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), child safety seats, properly installed, can reduce the risk of death in motor vehicle collisions by 69 percent for infants, and 47 percent for toddlers. To help grandparents ensure youngsters are buckled in correctly, Nissan and the authors of the best-selling “What to Expect” parenting books are offering the following tips for caregivers:

Choose the right type of child seat for each child's age, weight and size.
Never place an infant in a rear-facing seat in a front seat that is equipped with a passenger-side air bag.
Position the child in the middle of the back seat if at all possible.
Always buckle each child in according to the directions that come with the seat and the automobile. This is especially important if you are borrowing a seat.
Never start driving until all doors are locked and all passengers are buckled in.
Never ride with a baby or child in your lap.

These tips, excerpts from “The What to Expect Guide to Car Seat Safety,” are part of Quest for Safety, Nissan's ongoing child seat safety public service campaign. To receive a free copy of the booklet, caregivers are urged to call the Nissan Quest For Safety helpline at 1-800-955-4500.

Return to a list of feature stories from Home Front Magazine.