A Virtual Child Seat Demonstration In Your Own Home

December 15, 2022

PHILADELPHIA — The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia announces a new child passenger safety Web site as a holiday gift to parents. Just in time for the hectic and often dangerous holiday travel, http://www.chop.edu/centers-programs/car-seat-safety-kids features short videos and comprehensive information to help parents protect children of all ages when they ride in vehicles – from installing child safety seats to reinforcing safe driving habits for teens.

The new online resource draws on experience from Partners for Child Passenger Safety, a research partnership of Children’s Hospital and State Farm® that is the nation’s most extensive study of children in crashes. Since 1997, more than 300,000 State Farm customers have shared their crash experiences with Children’s Hospital researchers, who can determine the best ways to protect the nation’s children and save their lives.

“With this Web site, we want to provide families with the most current information on how to protect children in motor vehicles in the way parents want it, when they want it most – in their own homes before they get on the road,” says Flaura Winston, M.D., Ph.D., scientific director of TraumaLink, the pediatric injury research center at Children’s Hospital that conducts the PCPS study. “Motor vehicle crashes remain the leading cause of death for our nation’s children. Therefore, proper use of child restraints is vital.” Unfortunately, PCPS research shows that only 65 percent of children under age nine use age and size- appropriate restraints, and other research has shown extremely high rates of misuse of those restraints.

“On average, approximately 10% more collision claims were reported during December than the other months,” according to Susan Hood, Claims Vice President at State Farm. “To prevent hectic holiday travel from turning into a tragedy, we urge parents to buckle up their families every trip they make,” says Ms. Hood.

Multi-media features of http://www.chop.edu/carseat provide information in several formats. Short videos allow users to go directly to a topic pertaining to their needs. Parents can see and hear information and car seat installation tips for infants, toddlers, 4- to 8-year-olds, LATCH, and airbags. Each video is interactive, allowing users to pause or review certain sections. In addition, the Web site includes a section on car safety for older children and teens. For each stage of child development, units are available and printable in comprehensive and abridged formats.

Special sections about buying a safe car, free safety seat checkpoints, and exceptional travel circumstances address topics for which parents often need quick answers.

“We know busy parents are short on time,” says Dr. Winston. “We wanted it to be easy for parents to find information quickly for their immediate concerns but also provide comprehensive information when they have time to browse and research.”

Children’s Hospital encourages other Web sites and organizations to link to the educational site so that as many parents as possible can utilize the information.

Source: The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP)