Everyone's so excited, you're going to Disneyland and you're taking an airplane! Or maybe you're taking the train to Washington DC to visit the pandas at the Smithsonian Zoo. Or, maybe it's just a road trip to Grandma's house in Arizona. What now? How can you safely travel with your children, and not go crazy in the process?
Planes
First things first: If you are traveling by plane, your children (even those under two years old) need their own seats - and they need their car seats! Make certain your child's car seat has a sticker stating the seat is "FAA Approved." Most seats are, but a few of the larger seats (like the Britax Regent for example) are not. Booster seats are not because planes only have lap belts.
Why should your child use his or her car seat on the plane, espcially for the "free" flyers, babies under two? There are several reasons, some safety, some common sense related.
- Your child will need his or her seat once you get to your destination anyway, and checking the car seat is a very risky proposition. It's not at all uncommon for seats to be lost or damaged, and the odds of your seat being treated gently are slim to none. Gate checking is no better; even then the seat will be banged around in an unsafe manner.
- Turbulance during the flight. Lap babies are significantly more likely to be injured during turbalance because it's simply impossible for a parent (even the 300 lb weight lifter) to hold them safely. The common term for lap babies among flight attendants is "cabin missiles" because they literally fly around the cabin during severe turbulence.
- Most crashes are runway crashes, with crash dynamics very much like automobile crashes. If two planes collide on the runway, you'll be very glad your child is safely restrained in his or her car seat. Even in the case of severe crashes in which the plane falls out of the sky, child restraint can and do safe lives. Here's one famous example:
http://www.airdisaster.com/eyewitness/ua232.shtml
Quote:
"They went through a horrendous crash, a tremendous tumbling that was so bad that they could not control their arms and legs which flailed about with such force that they could not maintain the brace position. Fortunately, they were restrained by their seat belts."
Unfortunately, there were several children not restrained that day.
Quote:
"One of the survivors started climbing out of the aircraft and heard a baby crying; he went back inside, found the baby in an overhead bin where she had been tossed, took her out of the aircraft and brought her to her family that had been driven out by the thick smoke."
That child was lucky. One hundred twelve other passengers passengers died, including 11 children and 1 member of the flight crew.
http://ashsd.afacwa.org/docs/Jan%20Lohr%20NTSB%20Brief.pdf
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rC4Q3ofz7SI
- If there is a crash, your child's safety seat may indeed safe his or her life!
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/10/30/world/main3430227.shtml "A 3-year-old girl found alive in the upside-down wreckage of an airplane survived because she was strapped in a car seat, rescuers said. They said they knew she was OK when she cried for her teddy bear. "
- Your child will be more comfortable on the plane in his or her safety seat. It's a familiar place to be, and anecdotal evidence suggests that children in safety seats are better behaved than those without, simply because they're accustomed to riding in them. Children without safety seats (especially "lap children") tend to want to roam the cabin and that is simply not safe, for them or anyone else. Children in their safety seat may actually sleep the majority of the trip because they are used to the sensation of traveling in their seat.
For more information in plane travel with children, see:
http://cpsafety.com/articles/airplanetravel.aspx
http://www.carseat.org/
http://www.faa.gov/passengers/fly_children/crs/
Recreational Vehicle (RVs)
RVs are not safe. They are extremely likely to crash and they provide no protection for passengers. Child restraints cannot be installed on side or rear-facing seats, and the seatbelts in RVs are generally not attached to anything solid enough to actually protect the occupants.
Additionally, RVs are bursting to the seems with potentially deadly projectiles. In a crash these unsecured items will fly around the cabin, causing serious injuries or worse.
The only safe way to travel with a RV is to either tow the RV with a vehicle (truck, SUV, ect) in which everyone fits, or to have one person drive the RV while everyone else rides in their vehicles with appropriate seat belts and child restraints.
Trains, Buses and other Public Transit options
Trains and buses present something of a quandry because you cannot install your child's safety seat on them.
For trains this generally is not a problem, statistically they are VERY safe. I would strongly encourage to you keep your child's safety seat with you at all times however because you will need it at your destination and you really do not want to trust other people's handling of it.
Buses however are a different animal, and things change a little depending on what kind of bus you're considering, and the age of your child.
School buses are extremely safe. Just witness the recent bridge collapse in Minnesota. The bus was effectively dropped more than 60 feet and less than ten of the 50 children were injured, none seriously.
For school-aged children (6+ years old) the safety features built into school buses are very effective. In fact, school buses are the safest mode of ground transportation. They're large, easily visible and generally speaking the drivers are well trained with clean driving records. The vast majority of school-bus related injuries are not from crashes, but loading/unloading of the bus. http://www.carseat.org/Resources/109_schoolbus.pdf
Younger children are not protected by the compartmentalization system that protects older children simply because they're too small for the design to be effective. Children under age 5 (and small 5-6 year olds) should use some kind of five-point harness on a school bus or ride with their parents in their own child safety seat. Federal law requires Head Start programs use a five-point harness for all students, however some states have pre-K programs and are exempt because of the language of the law.
(http://www.headstartinfo.org/infocenter/faq.htm)
45 CFR 1310.11 and 1310.15(c) are effective January 20, 2004.
(Requires that each vehicle used to transport children enrolled in Head Start must be equipped for use of height and weight appropriate child restraint systems which conform to the performance requirements (49 CFR 571.213) for use by children weighing fifty pounds or less who will be transported in the vehicle. This requirement can be met either by retrofitting vehicles already in service or by acquiring new vehicles. In some instances, this may require replacement of existing vehicles. While the regulation allows up to five years to use school buses or allowable alternate vehicles, the full five years will not be available if vehicles are being used that cannot accommodate, or be safely retrofitted to accommodate child restraint systems.
Public transportation buses typically do not have seatbelts. I would avoid using them with a child under 5 or 6 if possible.
TAXIS
A taxi is an automobile. Automobile crashes are the number one cause of unintentional injury and death for ages 3 through 33. While most states do not require child restraint use in a taxi, NO state prohibits using a car seat in a taxi.
The laws of physics do not change simply because you're taking a cab. Be smart - use your child's car seat. Don't let a taxi driver tell you that you can't use it or don't need it. And don't let them move the car until EVERYONE is safely buckled. Leave a door open until everyone is safely restrained if you must, but this is non-negotiable.