Beware the Worries 'Bout the Wrong Stuff

According to Christine Barnes, the author of the Paranoid Parents Guide, parents are most worried about their children falling victim to the following five perils:

1 - Kidnapping

2 - School Snipers

3 - Terrorists

4 - Dangerous Strangers

5 - Drugs

These are all nasty perils to be sure, and when we hear of someone falling victim to them, it's shocking, albeit relatively uncommon compared to the actual top five causes of accidental injury and death for young people:

1 - Car Crashes

2 - Homicide (normally committed by a person who knows the child, and not a stranger)

3 - Abuse of some kind

4 - Suicide

5 - Drowning

So, what's a worried parent to do? It's pretty boring, so you sure you want to know? Ok, you asked. It's seatbelts and helmets. Yup, that same old dull stuff that we've heard about for so many years.

Still the number one way to accidentally injure or kill a child (worldwide) is to transport them recklessly in a car. Another is to set them hurling down a street, sidewalk, ice covered pond, snow cover hill or vacant lot without a helmet for when they fall. Yes, falls are still the accidental injury that emergency rooms see most often for all age groups.

National stories of kidnappings and terror attacks can leave us gripped with fear, and a debilitating sense of helplessness about how to protect our families. They're tragic and sensational, but by no means the perils that our kids face on a normal daily basis. We're not helpless to protect them from their most common perils. We can use good sense and the easily accessible tools that we've been given:

Put 'em in the back seat, buckle 'em up, know what they're doing, know where they're going, put the Blackberry or cell phone down and really listen to what they're saying, make 'em wear their helmet (just like you do, RIGHT?), and help them to be observant. You have way more power than you think.

Be safe.

If It Ain't Tight, It Ain't Right,,,, maybe.

So, how many adults does it take to install a child safety seat, and how tightly should they install it? Well, if you've been to some child seat check events you might deduce that it takes a large number of strong fire fighters jamming, pulling and heaving in such a way as to virtually weld the apparatus to the car causing the entire vehicle to shake when the seat is tested for tightness. Is that what it takes? Is that the correct method? Hard to say. Read on.

Those of us who have been at this (child passenger safety education) for a while were originally taught to test the child seat for proper installation by pulling on it at the spot where the seatbelt passes through the child seat (the belt path). If the seat didn't move more than an inch side-to-side or forward to back then it was considered a safe installation. It still is. Now, in most cases, a rear facing seat will flip up and down even when installed correctly, but that's a discussion I'll save for another time.

So, if the 1-inch rule is still in effect, what's the issue? Well, many of the long-serving technicians and instructors among us never really signed on to that 1-inch thing. We were all trained to put out knees in those seats and shove 'em as tightly into the vehicle as we could. Lot's of parents would agree. However, that's not how we teach new technicians. We teach them that the proper installation method is to simply press the child seat onto the vehicle seat with one hand and pull the belt (or LATCH connector) firmly. If the result fits the 1-inch rule then all is well.

This new method of instruction is considered appropriate for two reasons. First of all, the primary goal of child passenger safety technicians is to be educators, and not seat installers. We want parents and caregivers to leave an event with information about how to safely secure their entire family and the confidence to do it properly themselves. We do not want the process to appear so daunting that they'll never consider themselves qualified to do it on their own.

The second reason to consider the 1-inch rule to be sufficient is the actual physical dynamics of the crash. If you look at a crash test video with a child seat installed properly, you'll see that it separates from the vehicle seat as the harnesses (seatbelt or LATCH) holding it to the vehicle stretch with the crash. Yup, a perfectly installed child seat will move right off of the vehicle seat. So, that shelf liner that you used to make that child seat seem tight doesn't do anything at all in the actual crash.

So, I guess that convinces everyone that we don't need to weld that child seat to the car, right? Well, not so fast. New research and crash testing is demonstrating the possibility that the greatest reduction in crash forces transfered to the child is achieved by attaching the child more directly to the vehicle. In these crash tests, dummies restrained "correctly" endured three times the crash forces experienced by dummies attached directly to the vehicle with steel bands. Today's cars are designed to absorb the crash forces and direct them away from the occupants as much as possible. The assumption is that the crash dummies attached directly to the vehicle were more efficiently riding down the crash with the vehicle. Obviously, much more testing and research needs to be done.

Do I have you totally confused by now? Am I advocating tight makes right, or steady as you go? Well, neither, really. What's a mother to do? Here's what I would suggest:

1. Use a child safety seat all the time, and use it as best as you can. I'm still amazed about the crash reports I read where the child is ejected from the the vehicle or thrown about within it, and killed because there was no child seat being used. I've seen seats that experienced cracks and failures in crashes due to misuse, but they still ended up saving the child from death or serious injury. Some of these were even ejected from the vehicle. Use the seat.

2. Read the instructions. Yup, and read 'em both for the child seat and the vehicle. This goes for all of us technicians too. There's a great deal of good thought, testing and engineering going into these systems now. We'll get the greatest safety out of following the instructions and adapting to the technology changes.

3. There are two things to get tight to make it right. Many families work hard to get that seat secured in the vehicle tightly, but then leave Junior loose in their harness. That's probably the number one misuse that I see. Pull the harnesses tight. Junior won't mind, and if they do- tough.

4. Seek out the child passenger safety technicians in your town for assistance.

Crashes are violent and frightening events. Many of their effects are predictable and preventable, though. The injury prevention world is adapting and finding new ways of testing our vehicles and occupant protection systems. The safety rules that are true today or that were true a year ago, may not serve us as these systems progress. It's our job to be informed, keep an open mind and to adapt.

Be safe.

A View From the Blind Spot. Time to Review Setting Mirrors.

Yup, that's me, and I'm right in the driver's blind spot. So, if I had my side mirrors set the way many drivers do, you wouldn't see me there at all. What you also see in this mirror is my driver's head restraint showing where my seating position would be. When I'm driving, my side mirrors show me what many other driver's side mirrors don't: the stuff in the traditional blind spots. Traditional mirror setting tends to give drivers a similar view out all three primary mirrors. They see the area behind the car.

I just finished my coursework for certifying as a drivers ed instructor in Michigan. We also just held a CarFit clinic for seniors nearby. In both of these programs we instruct drivers how to set their mirrors according to the BGE method. BGE stands for blind spot & glare elimination. Now elimination is a bit of an overstatement. The traditional blind spots and night-time glare are greatly reduced using this method. However, it in no way is a replacement for frequent scanning and continued head checks. Bikes, pedestrians, motorcycles and others will still tend to get lost in the blind spot even when mirrors are set this way.

So, you want to give it a try? It's simple.

- Sit in the driver's seat.

- Position both of the side mirrors so that they reflect out away from the car as far as they go.

- Lean your head against the driver's side window.

- Adjust that side mirror back until you just start to view the side of your vehicle.

- Lean you head to the middle of the vehicle.

- Adjust the mirror on the passenger side back until you just start to view the side of your vehicle.

That's it. Now, it's going to seem pretty strange at first because your side mirrors will no longer show you the view you've seen in them for the last 5, 10, 20, 30, 40 + years. Try it, though. Have a friend walk into the spot beside your car that was formally missed by that mirror. You probably picked up 2 - 6 feet or more of extra viewing.

As I said, it's by no means a replacement for the physical head check, but gives a great boost to your mirror scans and extra warnings. Some drivers love it and others hate it. The drivers ed kids don't know any different and so they just think that's the way it's done (unless their parents "retrain" them).

Be safe.

Hot, Sweaty and Smiling. West Michigan’s Newest Child Passenger Safety Advocates

This child passenger safety thing is amazing. I just spent another couple of weeks helping instruct a new crop of freshly certified Child Passenger Safety Technicians in Holland, and we did that during the hottest soupiest weeks of the summer. We all loved it.

Now, the final day (day four) of Child Passenger Safety Technician training ends with four hours spent actually doing inspections and educating parents. That means spending the afternoon in the back seats of hot vehicles, reading vehicle manuals, educating parents, wrestling with stubborn vehicle belt systems, wrestling with stubborn, tired and fussy children, redoing paperwork we’ve messed up on, washing hands and cleaning up everything when done.

That’s all the stuff that the group you see in the above photo just finished doing, and, just like all of the rest of the classes I’ve been involved with, they loved it. They loved the chance to practice what they just learned, but what they really loved was the chance to educate parents and see children leaving the event safer than they arrived. Yup, the parents and kids were just as hot and uncomfortable as the technicians, but many of them expressed sincere appreciation for the services that they had just received. So, what’s not to love about that, eh?

And so, what would the new technicians like you to think about if they were speaking to you through this blog? They’d probably ask you to keep your littlest ones seated rear facing for a couple of years (or until they reach the rear facing limits of the seat they’re using), tighten the harnesses holding the precious cargo in place (since they probably haven't been tightened since winter) and use booster seats until junior is at least 4 foot 9.

Be safe.

A 1st for Motorcycle Safety in Michigan

So, I've already asked you nicely to watch out for me when I'm riding the highway transportation system on the two wheels of my Goldwing. And, I thank you for doing so. Every day that I spend on my motorcycle means that the next day I am extreeeeeeeeemely careful as a traditional four-wheel driver. I watch for EVERYTHING. Shoot, that's the way that we should be driving all of the time, but, spending a day feeling so incredibly vulnerable, really reminds me how dangerous this driving thing actually is.

Now, for the first time ever, our friends at the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning and SMARTER, the Skilled Motorcyclist Association-Responsible Trained & Educated Riders, are teaming up to co-sponsor the Ride Smart 2010 Motorcyclist Safety Conference. This safety conference for motorcyclists will be held Saturday, September 11, 2010 at the Comfort Inn and Suites in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan.

The popularity of motorcycling has risen, and along with it has come a rise in crashes, injuries and fatalities. In fact, motorcycles have accounted for one of the few increases in Michigan traffic fatalities during the past few years. September's conference will feature nationally known motorcyclist safety experts and provide workshops with information and riding techniques that participants can immediately implement to protect themselves and their passengers. Oh sure, there are door prizes, collector patches, food and networking opportunities as well, but that safety thing should be enough. Registration is only $30 - $45 and details can be found at http://smartermotorcyclesafety.eventbrite.com

Traffic safety advocates like myself are always conflicted about our interest in two-wheeling coexisting with our knowledge of the true dangers surrounding this mode of transportation. The only way that I can rationalize my own involvement in it is by working hard to promote safe operation, good sense and the use of every safety feature available to me. That includes increased education right along with the helmet and protective clothing. This new Michigan conference should be an excellent opportunity to augment that education. Why not give it a try.

By the way- if you're a motorcycle safety advocate, I suggest checking out the resources available from our friends at SMARTER. Find them at www.smarter-usa.org

Be safe.

Beware The Sign That Doesn't

So, what is it about this sign? We put complete trust in it; trusting our own lives and the lives of everyone that we know and love. We trust it many times a day near home and around the world. Yet, it doesn't make drivers do what it says any more than a sign saying that the speed limit is 25 makes drivers proceed below 30. What's the deal?

Let's analyze it. The intent of the message contained upon this simple, universally recognized, sign seems fairly unambiguous. Stop means, well, stop: all the time. Not stop when it looks like there are other cars, or stop when I see a police officer, or stop when I'm not running late, or stop when I haven't already stopped for 5 other stop signs in the last 5 blocks, or stop when I happen to be off my phone and paying attention, or stop when I think a stop makes sense here, or the other multiple reasons why we may decide that we should actually stop when we see one of these signs.

In our town, stopping at these conflict points can seem quite tedious at times, especially when we're proceeding down a long straight neighborhood street with stop signs placed at each block. Show of hands now. How many of you have failed to completely stop at a stop sign because of that or any of the other reasons above? Yup, me too, as I'm sure most anyone that you'll see driving today has done or is about to do.

So, what can we know about these signs for sure? Well, we know for sure that sometimes drivers will come to a complete stop there and sometimes they won't. We also know for sure that everyone is assuming that everyone else will stop there and so I can trust my life to it.

As we've learned before, then, beware the sign that doesn't. Just because there's a sign is no guarantee of safety. We all need to drive as if the other driver is trusting their lives to us, but isn't showing us the same care.

Be safe.

Beware the Cross Line

It's just a bit before 1:00 in the afternoon on a typical warm summer day near Niles, Michigan (this past week, actually). Two local motorcycle riders are traveling a familiar road near home on a warm but otherwise unremarkable afternoon. Their bikes are separated from their approaching killer by a narrow painted barrier like the one you see in the photo above. This existential barrier was useless when the approaching driver crossed it and killed then both. No, police report that alcohol was not a factor.

What's remarkable about this crash is how unremarkable it's surrounding circumstances appear to be. Among the most common driver safety mantras that we have learned all of our driving lives is the one that says "most crashes happen close to home." After all, that's where we drive. We drive on well known roads during the daylight hours through unremarkable conditions. Separating us and our families from instant elimination or lifelong injury is this imaginary painted barrier measuring about a foot. We travel 30 times that distance in a second at 25 miles per hour. Imagine how quickly we cross the line at 40, 50 and 60.

Driving is a full time job when you are actively engaged in it. It's probably the only full time job you've had where your life depends on being engaged in it fully all the time. Someone who'll be hurtling at you in the opposite lane later today may be taking a break to do something besides driving so you'd better keep a sharp eye on them just in case they cross the line and you need to react. Conversely, you don't want to be that driver that crosses the line and changes the approaching family's life forever.

Be safe.