Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY -- The British Medical Journal is out with a new report that says kids up to the age of 4 should ride in rear-facing carseats.
According to study authors Elizabeth A. Watson and Michael J. Monteiro, "The relatively large head mass and differences in the anatomy of the cervical spine in young children can lead to excessive stretching or even transection of the spinal cord if a child is involved in a frontal (head-on) crash while in a forward facing carseat."
What that means is the study's authors believe a child riding in a rear-facing carseat stands a lesser risk of injury in a crash, because the seat helps distribute the force of the impact more evenly to the child's body.
But Utah moms aren't on board. "How do they expect them to fit backwards with their legs and stuff?" wondered one woman at the Gateway Mall on Friday.
Another mom added, "Their legs would be all scrunched up!"
Yet another mom wondered how she could keep her child quiet and entertained if she was staring at the back seat all the time. "They wouldn't be happy, and I just don't see a need for it," that mom said. "I mean, she's in a booster seat."
Those common complaints were echoed by mother after mother.
But the British researchers believe their study is on the right track. Part of their research involved Swedish children, who typically ride rear-facing until an older age than children in other countries.
Between 1999 and 2006, the study found four children under the age of four who were in rear-facing seats and died in crashes and went on to observe that their deaths were unrelated to the type of seat. Six children facing forward under the age of four were killed in that same time period, and the researchers concluded that three of those children could potentially have survived if they'd been in rear-facing seats.
SafeKidsUSA offers a guide for child passenger safety throughout his or her lifetime.
E-mail: bbruce@ksl.com
