New Florida Car Seat Law: Car Seats Up to 6TH Birthday!

Effective January 1, 2015, Florida drivers must follow an enhanced child restraint device (car seat) law, which will reduce tragic outcomes in vehicle accidents. The new law extends the requirement of a car seat or booster seat until a child’s 6th birthday. A car seat with a harness must still be used until their 4th birthday. Then, for children ages 4 and 5, a car seat or booster seat can be used but not a seat belt alone.

Parents with questions about the new law or any other car seat safety concerns can make an appointment with a certified technician trained in child passenger safety in their area. Technicians can teach parents how to install new seats, help assess the safety of current seats and provide information on choosing the correct seat for each child. Though this new law provides additional protection for children until age 6, parents should know that using a booster seat is actually recommended until the height of 4’9” (between 8 and 12 years of age). The booster seat allows the seat belt, which is intended for adult use, to fit correctly on the body of a child. Similarly, although the law only requires a car seat with a harness until age 4, safety experts from AAA, the National Safety Council, and many other national injury prevention organizations recommend parents keep their child in a forward-facing seat with a harness until the maximum height and weight allowed for their seat. Given current models available, this can be as high as 65-80 pounds.

Although this law applies mainly to Florida, this could spread to other states as well and maybe even your state, so why not be ahead of the game and think about what the experts are recommending for our children and maybe keep them in that seat a little while longer.

Happy New Year!

Editor’s Note: As stated in their February 21, 2012 press release, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA “recommends that children ride in a booster seat until they are big enough to fit in a seat belt properly, which is typically when the child is somewhere between 8-12 years old and about 4 feet 9 inches tall.” Click here to find your state’s laws on child passenger safety.

“Forgotten Backseat Baby” Syndrome: an Unimaginable Danger

“Huh? Forgotten what???” is what I imagine you are asking after reading the title. The next question that probably comes to mind is, “what kind of idiot would forget his/ her own child in a car?” As the parent survivor of a child who was tragically lost to vehicular #heatstroke in 2011 when her daddy forgot to drop her off at daycare that fateful morning, I WISH I could tell you that only idiots make this kind of mistake; that only a selfish monster could do such a deed…..sadly, most of the more than 600 kids who have died from being left in a hot car since 1998 were victims of what I like to call “forgotten backseat baby” syndrome; a mistake committed not by idiots or monsters, but a mistake made by folks you would never in a million years imagine: caring, loving, responsible parents. Most of them took nearly every precaution to child-proof their homes and to assure that the car seat was installed correctly; many of them also took parenting classes in preparation for their bundle of joy’s arrival. Sadly, most of these parents also never imagined the remote possibility of forgetting their child in the backseat of a vehicle. In other words, folks just like YOU and ME, sadly, are capable of forgetting our most precious cargo in the backseat of our cars under the right conditions.

Your protective defense mechanisms are probably kicking in right now and you are probably saying “yeah right, not a chance lady”. …..but for those of you still in denial that you could make such a mistake, here is a little food for thought.

Have you ever, in a moment of multi-tasking, sleep deprivation, running late for work, or being severely fatigued after a bought of illness (you, your spouse, your kids), done any of the following?

• Forgotten to turn off the headlights before exiting your car? (apparently so many of us in the past drained our batteries by doing this that most cars now have automatic function of headlights, or at least have an alert that “dings” when you open the door to let you know you forgot to turn off the lights)
• Left your ATM card in the machine after a transaction? (again, so many of us were guilty of this behavior that now most ATM machines have quick swipe technology so that we no longer have to wait for our cards to be returned)
• Forgotten to buckle your seatbelt? (are you thinking of that annoying alarm right now? So many front passengers have forgotten this safety routine in the past that the auto industry has decided we need this annoying reminder to protect our front seat cargo)
• Forgotten to turn off the coffee maker? (note that most brands now have an auto-shut-off feature for us poor souls who just aren’t fully awake until chugging a cup o’ joe)
• Walked into a room with a purpose to get/ do something, then arriving only to find that you couldn’t remember why you were there – no matter how hard to try?

If you have ever been guilty of any of those behaviors (or similar cases of stress-induced memory failure), then yes, unfortunately, you too are capable of forgetting a baby in the backseat.

I WISH I could tell you only a monster could do such a thing. Unfortunately, even the best of mortals can suffer the devastating consequences of “forgotten backseat baby” syndrome under the right conditions. That’s why I advocate implementation of safety nets/ plans for ALL child transport activities to verify arrival and/ or absence in a timely manner…..EVEN if you are still in denial that you are capable of forgetting your precious backseat cargo, consider a child transport safety plan an “insurance policy” to make sure you prove me wrong.

I lost my daughter, Sophia Rayne “Ray Ray” Cavaliero, to vehicular #heatstroke on Wednesday afternoon, May 25, 2011. That morning, our entire family overslept. Speaking in retrospect (after observing my 20 month old twins during the same phase of their lives), I think we overslept because it was the first time that Ray Ray finally slept through the night. We always called her our little alarm clock, because without fail she would awaken to nurse at 5:00 am, then sweetly drift back to sleep until about 7:30 am. Then we usually played with her for an hour or so before her daddy took her to daycare around 9:00 am. Ray Ray’s behavior was so predictable that I no longer set an alarm clock to awaken. That morning began with me awakening to my sweet child giving me precious kisses all over my face, followed by a glance at the clock. As I saw the time of 9:43 am, chaos ensued in my home. We had all overslept! Brett rushed to get dressed for work; I rushed to get Ray Ray fed and dressed for daycare. The entire family then hurried to daddy’s truck (I was still in PJs).

The defining event that led to Ray Ray’s death due to vehicular heatstroke was something very simple: ONE WRONG TURN. My husband usually made a LEFT turn at the bottom of a major hill near our home to drop our child off at daycare (located less than 10 minutes from our home). After dropping her off, he would circle back onto the same major highway and head to his office, less than 15 minutes from our home. That morning for unknown reasons he made a RIGHT turn at that critical intersection. As Ray Ray sat rear-facing and quietly in the backseat, he had no clue along his work route that she was still in the truck….he couldn’t see her; he couldn’t hear her. WHY did he make this wrong turn? We have asked this question daily for almost three years and still have no answer. What we know (through the criminal investigation) did not contribute to the wrong turn was his phone—records show that he wasn’t talking, emailing, or texting…..Could you ever imagine that ONE WRONG TURN, as I am sure you have probably made a few times in your life as well, could have such devastating consequences???? We couldn’t either….We still can’t; but this is our reality, like a nightmare from which we cannot awaken….cannot awaken because sadly it is not a dream.

The story I have just told to you replicates the story of more than one hundred families since 1998, as forgotten childcare drop-off is the leading source of child hot car death (aka child vehicular heatstroke or hyperthermia). Another resounding theme in nearly every “forgotten backseat baby” syndrome tale resulting in child hot car death is a change in routine on the day of the tragedy. For us, that change in routine was oversleeping, with a resultant chaotic start to our day. For other families, that change in routine was commonly an alternate person dropping the child off at daycare (one not accustomed to doing so). Other common changes in routine that we have seen in these tragedies include changes in school routine–either at the start of summer when grade school has just ended or in August at back to school time, ESPECIALLY where there are multiple siblings in the family and one starts kindergarten and the younger still needs to be dropped off at daycare.

I have shared my story with you today to commemorate the upcoming National Heat Awareness Day (designated by the National Weather Service/ NOAA) this Friday, May 23, 2014. The rate of child vehicular heatstroke tragedies begins to rise exponentially around this date, peaking in August (aka “back to school” time—remember that change in routine risk factor I alluded to earlier???). This year for the first time, numerous national child safety advocates, including the staff at Pediatric Safety, will join forces to commemorate and co-promote this day. We will be posting hourly child vehicular heatstroke facts and prevention tips on social media outlets to raise public awareness of this often unrecognized danger to child passenger safety, focusing on “forgotten backseat baby” syndrome, which is every parent’s unimaginable risk and the leading cause of child hot car deaths. Please join us and help spread vital information to PREVENT child vehicular heatstroke by sharing our social media posts and encouraging your friends and family to do the same. We will be using the tag “#heatstroke” on all of our posts and encourage you to do the same.

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Editor’s Note: We are just at the beginning of summer and 5 children have already died this year. Please reach out to everyone you know, to everyone who follows you on Twitter or Facebook or any other social media you have access to – and help us raise awareness of this terrible tragedy.

All it will take is a minute to post any one of these:

• Call 911 if you see a child alone in a car. ACT to prevent child vehicular #heatstroke
• Most kids who die of vehicular #heatstroke are accidentally forgotten in the backseat by a loving, responsible parent.#LOOKbeforeyouLOCK
• Forgotten childcare drop-off is the #1 source of child vehicular #heatstroke. #RayRaysPledge
• A child overheats 3-5 times faster than an adult. Never leave your child alone in a car. Prevent vehicular #heatstroke
• 30% of kids who died in a hot car gained access to an unlocked vehicle. Prevent vehicular #heatstroke
• The inside temperature of a car increases more than 40 degrees in less than an hour. Prevent vehicular #heatstroke
• Most kids who die in a hot car are less than 2 years of age. Prevent vehicular #heatstroke
• Most common factor associated with parents who forgot their kids in the backseat: change in routine. Prevent vehicular #heatstroke
• Is your child in daycare? Make an absence verification plan w ur provider aka #RayRaysPledge. Prevent vehicular #heatstroke
• Create reminders for all child transport activities eg: purse/ briefcase/ cellphone in backseat. Prevent vehicular #heatstroke

If we can save just one child’s life, all our efforts will have been worth it.

The Dark Side of Golf Carts: Hidden Danger for your Family

If you have gone to play golf in the last 30 years or so, then you are probably familiar with golf carts. Playing golf and driving the cart around the course are part of what makes playing golf so much fun and up until a few years ago, golf carts have mainly been relegated to golf courses and maybe some fancy golf retirement communities around the country. But if you look around now, golf carts are everywhere. No longer are golf carts relegated to the golf course and surrounding communities. Golf carts and golf cart ownership have gone through the roof. Market research firm IBIS World forecasts that by 2016, 76,685 golf carts will be sold annually in the U.S and according to the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety (IIHS,) all but four states have laws that allow golf carts or other low speed vehicles to be driven on public roads. Alaska and Texas even let them be driven on roads with speed limits up to 45 mph, showing that golf carts are becoming a part of our everyday lives and accommodating them will be the next step.

Down here in sunny south Florida, golf carts are almost as common as cars. They have made taking the family to work, school, the park, and any place close by a much easier and more fun way to travel. Not to mention the cost effectiveness of saving on gas these days. When I drop my son at school I easily see 10 children being dropped off by parents in a golf cart and there are even golf cart parking spots in the teacher’s parking lot. There is no doubt golf carts are more fun. However, golf carts are giving people a false sense of security. When these carts were mainly on golf courses and driven by adults you rarely if ever heard of a serious accident involving one, but now with the exploding popularity and varying age range and experience of the drivers, this is changing as well and especially for children.

During 2010, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reports dozens of people died in golf-cart related accidents. According to The University of Alabama at Birmingham, the national estimate for golf cart-related injuries was more than 15,000 annually during its recent four-year study. The injuries were highest among males, ages 10 to 19, and those 80 and older with fractures and head trauma being the most common injuries found in the study. According to an article in the July 2008 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, the rate of injury related to golf cart accidents rose more than 130 percent from 1990 to 2006. During this period, about 147,000 golf cart-related injuries were reported involving people as old as 96 years and as young as two months.

The numbers do not lie. Golf carts have a dark side and need to be taken more seriously both by lawmakers and parents.

From my own experience as a paramedic, what I’m seeing is that this is only getting worse. People are making the carts faster and the drivers are getting younger. We had a case here where a teenager flipped his cart with his 5 year old sister in the cart and we had to trauma alert the 5 year old. She ended up fine but it was still scary.

If you do happen to own one or are thinking about buying one for you and your family, think as you would when buying a car, think safety first. Seat belts are standard in cars and with the main injury from golf carts being ejection from the cart; they should be in your cart as well. Even if your local laws do not require lights, reflectors, a horn and safety belts, they should all be a part of your vehicle, because a golf cart is a vehicle and you will be sharing the road with actual cars. When driving the cart, please remember to drive safely, the website www.golfcartsafety.com has a great webpage and article on safely operating your golf cart, please take a look at this article before heading out or handing over the keys to anyone driving your cart.

As always, I hope you all have a happy and great summer and above all a Safe Summer.

Car Seat LATCH Rules to Change in January 2014

A new rule that goes into effect in January 2014 will require car-seat makers to start using labels that warn parents NOT to use the Latch anchor system to install a car seat if the combined weight of the child and the seat is 65 pounds or higher.

The LATCH anchors (Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children) were designed to make child seats easier to install and have been required in vehicles since 2001, but child-safety seat advocates say the strength of the anchors can’t be guaranteed because they don’t take into account the weight of the child seat, which typically weighs 15 to 33 lbs.

In a USA Today article, according to Joseph Colella, one of five child-safety advocates who petitioned the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) for a change to the rule, “the anchor requirements are based on old child seats and outdated recommendations on how long kids should be in child seats“.

But children are getting heavier and staying in child seats longer. In 2012 the American Academy of Pediatrics and NHTSA issued enhanced new guidelines on booster seat use for older children, recommending that children ride in a booster seat until they are big enough to fit in a seat belt properly, typically when the child is somewhere between 8-12 years old and about 4 feet 9 inches tall. Colella says “car makers aren’t able to guarantee the safety of heavier kids given the strength of LATCH anchors”. Very important to know!

So what does this mean for you?

Transportation Department spokeswoman Lynda Tran told USA Today: “While Latch makes it easier to properly install car seats in vehicles, it’s important for parents and caregivers to know that securing a child seat with a seat belt is equally as safe — and that they have the flexibility to use either system.”

So…if you have a child that weighs around 30 lbs, double check the weight of your car seat with the manufacturer. Make sure the weight of your child + the weight of that seat does not exceed 65 lbs. And while you’re having that conversation with them, double check the weight their LATCH anchors are rated to support. And if you have any doubt – use a seat belt instead of the LATCH to secure the seat. And have it checked at a NHTSA Car Seat Inspection Station. Use this locator to find the one that’s closest to you.

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Editors note: this post was originally run in June 2012, when the decision to change the LATCH rules was originally made. It is re-published here with minimal edits as very little has changed since then. Personally, I find it immensely disappointing that we would wait a year and a half to implement a change to a warning label when the lives of children are at risk.

Would love to hear your thoughts if you’d like to share them…

Buckle Up: Every Ride, Every Time (Infographic)

The following infographic is courtesy of Safe Kids Worldwide in honor of Child Passenger Safety Week, September 15-21, 2013…

 

One Decision: Tragic Results – Please Look Before You Lock (Video)

“It could never happen to me.” “I would never leave my child alone in the car – not for a minute.” “No GOOD parent would ever forget their child!”

But it happens every day. According to KidsandCars on average 38 children die in hot cars each year, about one every 10 days from heat-related deaths after being trapped inside motor vehicles. This year alone there have been 23 child vehicular heat-stroke deaths. And this is not counting the life-altering injuries experienced by the children who survive.

It happens…

Children climb into unlocked cars to play. A child is sleeping in the back-seat and a parent “cracks open the window” and runs into the store for “just one thing” (…illegal in some states but in a NHTSA survey, 25% of parents admitted they had done this at least once). A spouse / partner / caregiver carefully buckles the baby into the car seat to drop them off at daycare. Maybe it wasn’t their day to drive…or maybe something distracts them for just one second. It’s just a little departure from the usual morning routine – only this time they forget the baby sleeping in the back seat (…more likely now since the American Academy of Pediatrics changed their guidelines to recommend that children remain rear-facing in car seats until they reach the age of two. A parent looking in the rear-view mirror no longer sees their child’s face – just the back of the car seat – whether their child is in it, or not).

It happens…

…and it doesn’t have to be 100 degrees outside for the consequences to be devastating. According to NHTSA’s report on “Unattended Children and Cars“, even cool temperatures in the 60s can cause the temperature to rise well above 110 degrees Fahrenheit inside your car. The inside temperature can rise almost 20 degrees F within the first 10 minutes”. Within an hour the temperature jumps around 50 degrees F. If the outside temperature is in the low 80’s F, the temperature inside the vehicle can reach deadly levels in only 10 minutes. Slightly rolling the window down has almost no impact on these temperature increases.

Take a look at this simulation produced by the SafeKids organization of how fast a car can heat up when exposed to direct sunlight

Children’s bodies – in particular infants and children under 4 years of age – are at greatest risk for heat-related illness. They absorb more heat and are less able to lower their body heat by sweating. Because a child’s thermoregulatory system is not fully developed, their bodies warm at a rate 3 to 5 times faster than an adult’s. Hyperthermia occurs when the body produces or absorbs more heat than it can dissipate. A core body temperature of 107 degrees F is considered lethal because cells are damaged and internal organs shut down.

It happens…

To the most loving, caring parents…the most responsible caregivers. These are not “those horrible people who should never have been allowed near children”. Take a minute to read Kristie Reeves-Cavaliero’s story about the day her husband Brett took one wrong turn and drove to the office instead of dropping their beloved daughter Sophia (Ray Ray to those who loved her) off at daycare. It wasn’t until they met for lunch later in the day that they realized something was wrong. By that time Ray Ray had been in his truck for 3 hours. An hour and 19 minutes later she was gone.

But this isn’t just Ray Ray’s story. More than 1 in 5 kids who die of heatstroke in a car were supposed to be dropped off at daycare that morning – and no one questioned their whereabouts until it was too late. Now Kristie has made “Ray Ray’s Pledge” her lives’ work – to establish a “daycare safety net” and make sure this doesn’t happen to another child. Other parents have made similar pledges. To share the story of their children’s tragedies here, in interviews, in every public forum possible – in the hopes of saving just one family the pain they have endured. There are ways to keep your child safe during the hot summer months.

SO WHAT CAN YOU DO TO PREVENT ANOTHER TRAGEDY??

• Child Vehicle Heatstroke Prevention Tips from NHTSA:
  • Never leave a child unattended in a vehicle. Never leave infants or children in a parked vehicle, even if the windows are partially open.
  • Do not let your children play in an unattended vehicle. Teach them that a vehicle is not a play area.
  • Make a habit of looking in the vehicle – front and back – before locking the door and walking away.
  • If you are dropping your child off at childcare, and normally it’s your spouse or partner who drops them off, have them call you to make sure the drop went according to plan. Ask your childcare provider to call you if your child does not show up.
  • Do things to remind yourself that a child is in the vehicle, such as:
    • Keep a large object such as a stuffed animal in the car seat when it’s empty. Move the stuffed animal to the front seat when you place the child in the seat as a visual reminder.
    • Place your purse, briefcase or something else you need in the back seat so that you will have to check the back seat when you leave the vehicle
  • If you see a child alone in a hot vehicle: call the police. If the
    y are in distress get them out as quickly as possible and cool the child rapidly. Call 911 or your local emergency number immediately
• Take Ray Ray’s Pledge
  • You Pledge: to call your child’s teacher if he or she will be late or absent
  • Teacher Pledges: to call YOU immediately if your child does not arrive at his or her usual time
• Download the KidsandCars Safety Checklist and keep it handy
• July 31st is National Heatstroke Prevention Day
  • Join the Office of Emergency Medical Services at NHTSA in a day of social media conversation and help them get the word out about the dangers of heatstroke when children are left in cars. @NHTSAgov will be tweeting and posting on Facebook every hour on the hour from 10am – 5pm using the hashtag #heatstroke. Please join them…
  • For more info and sample tweets click here

“If you think it can’t happen to you, then it could and it might… Tell yourself it COULD happen to me and then do whatever it takes to make sure it doesn’t.” …kidsandcars.org

And if you ever catch yourself saying…”I’ll only be gone for a moment”… please do two things:

1. Consider the following question: If someone gave you a million dollars – would you leave it sitting there unattended in your car – even for a moment? Isn’t your baby’s life worth more?
2. Consider watching this video…and then maybe even share it:
   Before you do, know that it is very graphic and may be upsetting…so please think twice before you watch it.

Please also know that this was a re-enactment – no one was harmed in the making of this film

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