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Published on 07/17/1995 All articles from this issue

Buckling your seat belt is good for your health

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One of the major contributing factors in maintaining good and long health is using your seat belt. The best way to avoid any serious injuries and fatalities when driving is to keep your seat belt buckled.

The American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons point out in their literature that there are two collisions in every motor vehicle crash. The first involves a vehicle striking an object, and the second collision is the one that causes death and injury. With summer here, more families are taking to the road. This means more children are at risk for injuries that can result from even the most minor traffic accident.

There is a question of importance whether safety belts should only be worn when driving long distances on high-speed expressways. That myth is exploded when three out of every four traffic crashes occur within 25 miles of home and at speeds under 40 miles per hour. Unbelted occupants have been killed in parking lots at speeds of less than 12 miles per hour.

Any time a child rides in an automobile, she or he should be put in a safety seat, regardless of how far you plan to travel. But putting a child into a safety seat may not be enough to reduce the risk of injury. Dr. Lisa Gobold, a pediatrician at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, said, "Parents take for granted they know how to buckle up their children when, in fact, up to two-thirds of safety seats are used incorrectly."

Dr. Gobold offers other suggestions to ensure a safety seat is used properly:

• Place the straps of the safety seat over your child's shoulders and not under the arms where ribs and internal organs could be damaged in a crash.

• Always place an infant seat in the back seat so it faces the rear of the vehicle.

• Replace any safety seats that have been involved in a crash. Even if you can't see any damage, hidden problems could cause it to fail in another crash.

- Clyde Noel