The importance of being well informed
When we start to think about what we need when we are expecting a baby, we often think about the stroller, or the room, even other products for the home, but we do not pay enough attention to car trips.
Traffic accidents are the main external cause of infant mortality in Spain and the one that causes the greatest number of injuries a year to the youngest. For this reason, we should spend much more time informing ourselves about car safety and going to a specialized and trustworthy establishment that helps us choose the most recommended products for each stage, minimizing the probability of serious damage in the event of an accident. .
Cars are becoming safer, and with more advanced occupant protection mechanisms, this has helped to reduce the number of those seriously affected in accidents in general. However, the figures show that there has not been the same decrease in seriously affected children between 0 and 4 years.
Why will it be? Maybe we are doing something wrong on trips with the kids?
let's look north
Sweden, the country with the lowest child mortality on the road
Sweden is the country with the lowest infant road death rate in the world. There are very few accidents (sometimes one or none) with serious damage a year in babies under 4 years of age.
Statistics show that a Swedish or Norwegian child under the age of 4 is 5 times more likely to be seriously injured in a traffic accident than a Spanish child.
In the Nordic countries the culture of car safety and awareness of the dangers behind the wheel is very high. There were the precursors of the 3-point seat belt and the SECURITY CHAIRS.
For decades in Sweden, families have largely opted to use car seats in reverse for children under 4 years old, this is the main cause that the numbers of serious injuries in Sweden are so low.
The Plus Test, maximum guarantee in safety
In the Swedish market it is the most demanding in car seats, and there parents demand that the new car seat for their little one has passed the prestigious Plus Test. It is a voluntary test carried out in VTI laboratories to which manufacturers can present their chairs to demonstrate that they exceed the highest safety requirements.
The Plus Test subjects the chair to a much more rigorous set of tests and efforts than in the rest of the European tests (ECE-R44 / 04 and i-Size). The most important factors that improve the Plus Test are the resistance to an impact with a higher deceleration, and especially the maximum cervical load at the moment of impact. This second is very important and means the maximum force that the neck and shoulder area, the vertebrae of the cervical area, can support at the moment of impact.
This area is the most affected in cases of serious damage to children in car accidents, and as we will see below, serious damage can only be avoided by traveling in reverse gear.
In fact, it is only possible to overcome the demanding levels required in the Plus Test by rear-facing safety seats. To date, no pro-ride chair has successfully passed the Plus Test.
In the following link you can find an updated list of the safety seats that have passed the Plus Test:
http://www.ntf.se/konsument/bilbarnstolar.asp
Traveling in reverse is 5 times safer than traveling in gear
Why is traveling in reverse gear safer? Now we explain it to you
The following figure collects statistical data on the reduction of injuries and the risk of serious damages in automobile accidents, comparing cases with children sitting in chairs in favor of the march, with children sitting in chairs against the march.
In a child of less than 1 year the size of his head represents 25% of the size of his whole body. With evolution, the human being has become the species that is born with the largest and most developed head, that is why it is the most intelligent being on the planet. At 4 years old, the size of the head can still represent 20% of the size of the entire body.
In a serious accident, in a head-on collision, the car the baby is traveling in undergoes maximum deceleration in a few seconds. All occupants of the vehicle receive tremendous forward force because they tend to maintain the speed the car was carrying.
The occupants of the vehicle are restrained by seat belts, which is the best safety device, which are worn by all the seats of all cars. In the event that an infant or toddler travels Pro-March (AFM), the belt or harness will also restrain you and prevent you from being shot forward.
But there is a part of the body that the belt does not retain, the head. As we have said before, the head of a child is very heavy (20% of its body), and the deceleration of the impact will cause it to shoot forward like a projectile, with forces close to 2,500 Newtons. In the image it can be seen how the spine in the part of the neck is completely bent, and this can cause internal decapitation, causing irreparable damage, or even death.
In the case of the rear-facing chairs, there is no projection of the head forward, this is because the body and the head are aligned and protected by the backrest and the head of the chair.
The following image compares the effects on the spine in the event of a head-on accident using a rear-facing chair (ACM), or a pro-driving seat (AFM). In the second case, it is observed how the vertebral column bends completely, putting the life of the child at serious risk.
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