CHILDREN AND SEAT BELTS The responsibility of keeping children safe while riding in any vehicle solely goes to the parents. This includes making children wear their seatbelts properly and keeping them in their car seats or booster seats at all time. THE PROBLEM OF SECURING CHILD PASSENGERS It is a well known that fact seat belts have saved more lives and prevented more injuries than any other safety device ever installed in cars. Unfortunately it is also known and acknowledge that the standard SABS (South African Bureau of Standards) approved seat belts are COMPLETELY UNSUITABLE FOR CHILDREN. Figure 1 : Unsuitable Figure 2: Suitable The only reason for this is because seatbelts are designed for adults and not for children. Meaning that the seatbelts will be too big …show more content…
• In SA it is compulsory that once a child has outgrown or graduated out of the baby safety seat it is compulsory that they are strapped using the standard fitted (adult) restraints /seat belts. CHOOSING THE CORRECT CHILD RESTRAINTS, BABY SEATS OR BOOSTER SEATS These different restraints are used according to the child’s weight and height. Hence the different types of restraints. Older children, usually around 14 years or 1.5m in height, can start wearing the three point lap and diagonal seat belt, unless it does not fit the child properly yet. In using these restraints the parents must be sure that they use the most appropriate restraint for the child’s size and age. Only moving on to the next restraint category when he or she no longer fits in the current one, for example: Infant: Birth – 1
In North Carolina, the “Click It or Ticket” program was put into place in 1993 by former Governor Jim Hunt to increase safety belt and child safety use rates through stepped up enforcement of the state’s safety belt law. According to North Carolina’s safety belt law all drivers and front seat passengers over the age of 16 are required to wear safety belts. Children less than age 16 are covered under the North Carolina Child Restraint Law. This law requires that children must be buckled up no matter where they are seated in the vehicle. Violators of the safety belt law are issued tickets and are subject to a fine of $25 plus $50 court costs. These violations have been defined as “infractions” and are not entered on driving records. In addition to this, effective January 1, 2005, any child less than 8 years old or 80 pounds in weight must ride in a booster seat. Violations of this law will result in a $25 fine plus court costs as well as having 2 points placed against driver’s license. However, drivers cited for this violation of this law for a 5,6, or 7 year old will be able to have the charges dismissed if they present proof to the court that they have acquired an appropriate restraint for that child. Statistics have been gathered on safety belt use since this program began and has shown that seat belt use has increased from 65 percent to 84 percent. It has also shown that fatal and serious injuries in North Carolina have been cut by 14 percent. Resulting in a savings of at least $135 million in health care related costs. Other positive ef...
Physical restraint, according to Health Care Financing Administration, can be defined as any handling, physical and mechanical methods applied to a patient with the aim of denying him or her the freedom of movement or access to his or her own body (Di Lorenzo et al., 2011). It may involve use of belts or ties that restrain movement of an individual such as seclusion. Seclusion refers to isolation from others, often done in a room that’s I avoid of any furniture and has a small observable window as the only connection to the outside world (Chandler, 2012). The use of physical restraint in handling patients has been on debate for several years now. In most countries such Italy, it
Seclusion and restraint started out in psychiatric hospitals and have now evolved into many schools. Restraint started out in England in the mid 19th century after having a history of poor conditions. Since Americans did not open up their first state- run mental hospital until 1822, they were unaware of the negative history that happened during the British reformation ("Human Side of Hospitals"). The American physicians thought that the restraints were keeping their patients safe when it was actually mistreatment of their patients. Anything that can be used to restrict the movements of a patient is a form of restraint. Things used as restraints can be leather or velcro wristlets or anklets that are used to hold the patient or attach them to their bed, lock them in their room, or by using sedating chemicals.
Williams, Don E. "Restraint Safety: An Analysis Of Injuries Related To Restraint Of People With Intellectual Disabilities." Journal Of Applied Research In Intellectual Disabilities 22.2 (2009): 135-139. Academic Search Premier. Web. 22 Oct. 2013.
Don’t use baby swing that it is not suitable for the age and weight of your baby. Once your baby has grown out of the age and weight range of the swing model you are using, stop using it.
Many people may choose not to wear a seatbelt because they don’t understand how and why they work. To begin with seatbelts are the first line of defense one has against an injury in a crash.
Even though there are some statistics that may show a lower rate of injury or death if you wear a seat belt when in an automobile accident, I do not feel that the government has the right to make wearing a seat belt mandatory for adults because by making seat belts mandatory it takes away from our right to freedom of choice, and wearing a seat belt does not eliminate the risk of injury or death as people have been injured and/or killed due to wearing a seat belt Current seat belt law originated from federal legislation in the 1960s that made it mandatory for all automobile manufacturers to include seat belts in their vehicles as a standard feature. Originally, the purpose of a seat belt was not to protect the occupants in the case of a crash, but rather to physically keep them in the vehicle, as driving was bumpy business. However, in today’s times, mandatory use of a seat belt falls under various states purview. Each state implements its own laws regarding enforcement of seat belt use.
In an article written by Samantha P. Ziglar, BSN, RN, she describes the main purpose of restraints through her eyes in the medical field. Ziglar states that at least one in every four patients will be restrained at least once, that’s 79.715 million people in the United States (Population). “Specific reasons include fall prevention, limiting wandering behavior and preventing dislodging or interference of therapeutic devices, and controlling violent or agitated behavior” (Ziglar 1). Ziglar emphasises the growing problem among restraints; improper use among nurses. “Patient safety should be every nurse’s top priority; therefore, nurses need to have a thorough knowledge base of the risks and benefits of using physical restraints” (1). As a result of what a nurse needs, restraints are required to succeed in his or her profession, making their patient as safe and comfortable as possible. The purpose of restraints as a whole is to provide patient protection. Ziglar lists the pros and cons of the use of restraints. Some major
Seatbelt is a very important component when we all drive a car or other vehicle. The main purpose of seat belts is to provide greater safety to the driver when driving car but at the moment, people do not care about the importance of wearing seatbelt.
"Child Passenger Safety: Fact Sheet." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 05 Feb. 2014. Web. 05 May 2014.
If someone must put a child in the front seat, they may want to have an on/off switch for the airbag installed on the passenger side. On/off switches are used to prevent the airbag from going off in an accident, but they aren’t recommended for most people. You only need an airbag switch on the driver’s side if your legs are too short to reach the pedals and have your torso 10 inches away from the steering wheel. Passenger side switches should only be used if you always have to have a small child or infant sit in the front seat because they have a medical problem and need to be watched constantly. Airbag switches can be used incorrectly. You can forget to turn the airbag back on and jeopardize the safety of yourself (the driver) or the passenger.
Car accidents are the leading cause of death for people under the age of 35. Wearing a seat belt can prevent death in about half of these accidents. Did you know that every 15 seconds someone is injured in an automobile accident if they are not buckled up, or that every 13 minutes someone is killed in a crash. Failure to wear a seat belt contributes to more fatalities than any other single traffic safety related behavior. According to the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration seatbelts saved nearly 12,000 lives in the United States in the year 2000. The NHTSA estimates that more than 9,000 U.S. car accident fatalities in 2000 would have been avoided if the victims had been wearing seatbelts. Sixty three percent of the people killed in accidents were not wearing seat belts. The NHTSA a...
This project started back in 1994 and according to the author has been an ongoing never ending project filled with staff education and teamwork. The results of this project was a dramatic reduction in the use of physical restraint and an overall feeling of improvement for the quality of life among patients. This article breaks down the methods used in order to achieve the goals sit for this hospital. This hospital is the largest in Virginia housing 250 patients at the start of this project, according to the author “44% of the total patient population were in restraints.” The first step was to gather a committee who brain stormed how to make their goals possible for their facility. Once making plans to go “restraint-appropriate versus restraint-free” patients were reevaluated by the entire team looking for alternatives to risk rather than resting on a restraint as an option. Moving forward with their goals they offered large amounts of staff re-education on restraints. This article talks about the setbacks of failed attempts at alternatives, showing that the staff in the hospital had a trial and error growing process. When patient injuries happened the staff assured everyone that they were in this together as a team. This article shows the overuse of restraints and the positive attitude to correct that overuse. This article will be part of my argument in the sense
But as with any other infant product, it is important you observe a few basic safety
installation of car seats on the seat belt parents face difficulties. Especially when attachment occurs on the seat belt .