That’s the question parents and Houston product liability attorneys will be asking after a recent study which revealed that most children are able to unfasten their car safety seat belts, increasing the risk of injuries in an accident.

The researchers mailed more than 500 surveys to pediatric offices around Connecticut. The study found that children, even those at one year of age, can easily unbuckle their seat belts.   The results also found that more than 40% of children, who were able to unbuckle the restraints of their car safety seat, did so while the car was in motion.  In such cases, parents had to pull over somewhere to fasten the seatbelt again.  The study found that children begin developing the motor skills needed to unbuckle themselves from the car much before they develop the cognitive skills to understand why they need to be restrained.

Your child is probably unbuckling the seatbelt out of a spirit of adventure, or simply a sense of fun.  In many cases, parents find out that the child has unrestrained himself, and then immediately take steps to buckle him in again.  However, in cases where parents are unaware that their child has an unbuckled seatbelt, the child could be at serious risk of injuries in an accident.  Besides, the risk of being involved in an accident also increases when the parent is distracted by the child.

Motor vehicle accidents are the number one cause of death for children between the age of one and five.  The statistics have stayed the same over the years, in spite of the fact that car safety seat use around the country has boomed.  The findings of the study will be presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies conference in Denver later this week.

Vuk Vujasinovic is a Board Certified Houston personal injury attorney who practices Houston auto accident and other personal injury cases.

For more info on how Vuk can help you with your potential case please call him at (877) 724-7800 or fill out the contact form on the right.

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