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SALT LAKE CITY -- Primary Children's Medical Center rolled out a new campaign, and website, in hopes of educating Utah parents about when and how to use child booster seats.
Children under 4 feet 9 inches tall are 4x more likely to sustain serious injuries in regular seat belts versus booster seats.
The website, BoostTil8.org, features a question and answer section, safety tips and an emotional video about Kyle Sorensen who suffered a paralyzing spinal cord injury in a 2004 car crash just days after his eighth birthday.
Kyle and his mother, Lisa, were returning home from a doctor's appointment when Lisa blacked out, then crashed head-on into an oncoming vehicle. Kyle, who was not properly restrained, was in a coma for three days. When he woke up he was paralyzed from the neck down.
Primary Children's featured Kyle's story today at a safety summit hoping it will prevent similar tragedies.
Children between the ages of 3 and 9 years are at the greatest risk for serious injury due to improper constraint.
This new campaign comes on the heels of new child safety seat guidelines released in March by the American Academy of Pediatrics. The guidelines recommend that most children will need a booster seat until they are at least 80 pounds, have reached 4 feet 9 inches tall, and are between the ages of 8 and 12 years old.
"That may be an 8, 9, 10, 11-year-old child still riding in a booster seat because the adult seat belt does not fit correctly," said Janet Brooks, a Child Advocacy Manager at Primary Children's Medical Center.
Children should also ride in the rear of a vehicle until they are 13 years old.
The new guidelines also recommend that toddlers should remain rear-facing until at least age 2, and 35 pounds. The 2002 policy advised rear-facing only until age 1.
