Results 1 to 10 of 10
  1. #1
    Mommy2Rachel Guest

    Default Comparing infant deaths in car accidents through the decades - help pls! :)

    I am in a debate with someone on another board. This person is asserting that since her mother let her ride without a car seat, seat belt etc in the 70s and she is fine (as are many people form the 70s) then the car seat standards/recommendations now are excessive. She calls me "overprotective" because I am planning on keeping DD RF for as long as allowed. Says it is "silly - plenty of kids don't RF for even 1 year and they are fine"

    I am fuming. Of course, this person does NOT have a child either!

    I have done a search for comparing infant mortality rates in car accidents in the 70s and now - and have come up empty handed. Does anyone know of a site that compares infant deaths in car accidents through the decades?


    (oh, love this site BTW, I have been lurking for months! :) )

  2. #2
    jeanum is offline Silver level (200+ posts)
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    USA.
    Posts
    332

    Default RE: Comparing infant deaths in car accidents through the decades - help pls! :)

    http://www.carseat.org/Resources/Weber_CPCP.pdf may help. It's been a while since I've read through it but IIRC it states there's a 70% reduction in infant fatalities attributed to proper carseat usage. Just because some of us survived infancy without carseats doesn't prove much other than we were very, very lucky not to have been in a crash. Many who rode unrestrained as kids were sadly not so fortunate. :(
    Regards,

    Jean
    CPST

  3. #3
    Mommy2Rachel Guest

    Default RE: Comparing infant deaths in car accidents through the decades - help pls! :)

    THANK YOU! I knew someone here would have a link. This is the most safety-conscious board out there - I LOVE IT!

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Oct 2001
    Location
    Arizona.
    Posts
    901

    Default RE: Comparing infant deaths in car accidents through the decades - help pls! :)

    Wow, that looks like a great article. I only skimmed it (it is quite long) but even just the pictures are enlightening. I do wish they would revise and update it as it came out in 2000 but what great information!

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Dec 2002
    Location
    Richmond, Virginia, USA.
    Posts
    20,018

    Default RE: Comparing infant deaths in car accidents through the decades - help pls! :)

    Boy, it's been awhile since I had THAT printed up and sitting on my bedside table! Thanks for finding it :)

    Now, the OP needs to ask the person at that other board if she can get a direct phone line to heaven and ask all those dead kids if they are 'just fine' after being in crashes all those years ago? It seems there are thousands of people who aren't here to defend the fine-ness of being decapitated by metal glove compartment doors, you know? Flying out windshields...all that fun stuff they made us watch in driver's ed class (my favorite was 'MECHANIZED DEATH!!!!'...lots of creamed 57 chevies...)

    <winking, but sad for the dead kids>


    Julie CPS Tech and mom to 3 in seats
    http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/RFAlbum/SarahMA.aspx

  6. #6
    jeanum is offline Silver level (200+ posts)
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    USA.
    Posts
    332

    Default RE: Comparing infant deaths in car accidents through the decades - help pls! :)

    You're welcome. :) It's one of those older but very handy links by the reknown Dr. Weber, and I thought of it immediately when I read the OP. I imagine if we did some more digging there's probably newer articles/reports on the web from UMTRI or other research organizations.

    Back before I became a SAHM, I used to call the UMTRI library for work related questions from time to time and I actually sold a friend's old Subaru to a scientist who worked there. He test drove the Subaru and put it up on a hoist at the UMTRI to check it out before buying it, lol, and that was the only time I ever set foot in the building. This was years ago though and I unfortunately don't have any contacts there anymore. I've heard CR's carseat crash testing is performed there, too. Alrighty then, <blush> sorry for the tangent. :)

    Regards,

    Jean
    CPST

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Dec 2002
    Location
    Richmond, Virginia, USA.
    Posts
    20,018

    Default RE: Comparing infant deaths in car accidents through the decades - help pls! :)

    <bow><scrape> I'm not worthy (a la Wayne's World, lol).
    very cool!
    Julie CPS Tech and mom to 3 in seats
    http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/RFAlbum/SarahMA.aspx

  8. #8
    niccig is offline Clean Sweep forum moderator
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
    Location
    CA.
    Posts
    23,492

    Default RE: Comparing infant deaths in car accidents through the decades - help pls! :)

    ROFL Hotline to Heaven...I'm going to use that. Nicely put Julie.

  9. #9
    dogmom is offline Diamond level (5000+ posts)
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    boston, ma.
    Posts
    5,914

    Default RE: Comparing infant deaths in car accidents through the decades - help pls! :)

    Ask the person how traffic now compares to traffic in the 70's. Besides that stats, the reality is we spend a lot more time in the car with our kids now. I only rode in the car usually to go grocery shopping (within 3 miles of the house)once a week. My dad walked to work. We walked to school or took the bus. The only time our car got over 30 miles an hour and went on the freeway was when we took long trips a couple of times a year.

    Jeanne
    Mom to Harvey
    1/16/03
    & Eve 6/18/06

  10. #10
    writermama is offline Platinum level (1000+ posts)
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Posts
    1,887

    Default RE: Comparing infant deaths in car accidents through the decades - help pls! :)

    My brother is alive today because my mom sought out and then used a car seat in the late 60's. It was a primitive seat by today's standards, but it saved his life in a crash that would have killed him and both of my parents had he not been in the seat and had they both not been wearing seatbelts. In fact, my dad was the one who had the seatbelts installed in the car -- they didn't come with the car.

    So because they used seatbelts when seatbelts weren't cool, my family survived then and I had a chance to be born ... and I have 2 children now. My 3 year old is still RF and will do so as long as she can.

    Just wanted to chime in with an anecdotal argument to go along with the statistics.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •