Tuesday, September 19 – Focus on DIRECTION

Tuesday, September 19 – Focus on DIRECTION

What: Facing the car seat in the correct direction for the age, height, weight, and developmental level of the
child.
Why: Many children are advanced to the next seat stage before they are truly ready, which puts them at
greater risk for injury in a crash. Children between the ages of 12–24 months are up to 5 times better protected
by riding rear-facing to the limits of their convertible car seat (Henary, 2007). The American Academy
of Pediatrics advises that children should ride rear-facing until at least age 2, while their fragile spinal cords
are still developing. NHTSA suggests that children should ride rear-facing to the upper limits of their seats,
and convertible seats with higher rear-facing weight and height limits allow many children to ride rear-facing
well past the age of 2. Children are also being moved prematurely from harnessed car seats into booster seats,
as well as from booster seats into adult seat belts, which puts them at greater risk for injury if the seat belt
does not fit them correctly.