TUESDAY, Sept. 17, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Most parents are placing their kids in harms’ way by moving them out of their car booster seats too soon, a new study warns.

Four out of five parents moved their kid out of a booster seat before the child was big enough, according to the report, Booster Seat Use in the USA: Breakthroughs and Barriers, published Sept. 16 by Safe Kids Worldwide.

Further, three in four parents didn’t know that children need to ride in boosters until they’re at least 4-foot-9, results show.

“Booster seats save lives and prevent serious injuries, but only if we use them and make sure they are adjusted properly,” said Torine Creppy, president of Safe Kids Worldwide. “Here’s a great first step: once your child is big enough to use a booster seat, keep using it until they can safely ride in a seat belt alone. It’s the best way to keep your child safe.”

For the study, researchers with Ohio State University conducted an online survey of more than 3,000 parents and caregivers with kids ages 4 to 10.

Booster seats can reduce the risk of serious injury by 45% compared to using a seat belt alone, researchers said in background notes.

But survey results showed that many parents aren’t making sure their kid is big enough before getting rid of the booster seat.

The survey also found that carpooling can be a risk for kids:

30% of caregivers said they don’t always follow safety rules when driving a carpool, letting kids ride without the usual restraints.
80% said they’ve noticed other drivers don’t follow safety rules while carpooling kids.
Many also engaged in unsafe practices to make it easier to drop off and pick up kids from school.

“Our goal is for every child to be appropriately restrained for every ride. Achieving that mission requires an understanding of how families make decisions and identifying effective ways to foster growth,” Julie Mansfield, research associate professor at Ohio State University’s Injury Biomechanics Research Center, said in a Safe Kids news release. "Research like this helps us understand the gaps in our current advocacy efforts and helps us to work in a more targeted way to close those gaps.”

Experts recommend a safety belt fit test to determine when a child is ready to lose the booster seat:

A child’s knees should bend at the edge of the seat when their back and bottom are against the seat back, and their feet should touch the floor.
The lap belt must fit snugly across their hips or upper thighs.
The shoulder belt must fit across the shoulder and chest, not the face or neck.

More information

Safe Kids Worldwide has more about the seat belt safety test.

SOURCE: Safe Kids Worldwide, news release, Sept. 16, 2024

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