Why Parents Don't Buckle Up Their Kids?

At least once a month when you wake up to the morning news you will hear of a traffic accident involving a child. Almost always the accident is tragic owing to the fact that the child dies for the reason that no law required safety device was in place. The child was not buckled in. With repeated media coverage on how buckling-up saves lives. With numerous community outreach on the importance of using proper safety devices for children driven in cars. With various expertize on the appropriate use of car seats for children, why do parents not secure their kids as they drive to and from their destination?

Not only do these parents not buckle their children in, they allow their children, ages 14 and under, to sit in the front seat while driving. Parents cannot in clear conscience say they are unaware of the high risks. They cannot dare expect others to believe they did not know that children 14 or younger die from motor crashes and this type of fatality supersedes any other cause of death in children spanning that age. Such information is prevalent in the media, in community centers and in churches. The government continuously runs campaigns on the appropriate safety procedures and devices for children who are passengers within a motor vehicle.

Parents cannot be that clueless in the knowledge that when children sit in the front passage seat the airbag will not protect them from injury or fatality. In fact, parents ought to know that because their children are smaller in statures this will produce the opposite effect. Consequently, the airbag, instead of saving their children’s life will be the primary cause of their children’s death.

The good news concerning the amount of fatality of children in vehicle crashes is that the numbers have dropped. The widespread broadcast on the importance of a heeding to particular safety measures when children are passengers in vehicles has expanded nationwide. Parents are more informed today than they were in the late 80’s or early 90’s and that is the major culprit for the drop in motor vehicle fatalities of children. Yet, there is still some major concern for the safety of present day children for the reason that some parents, according to experts, are in dire need of “behavioral safety interventions”. These parents as asserted by experts refuse to acknowledge that car safety laws as they relate to children are in place to keep children safe. Ignoring these recommendations will jeopardize their children’s safety and is a blatant disregard for the law. Therefore, experts continue to explore the best approach to help advance the behavioral adjustment of these parents.

Fatal accidents should not be the only concern of parents. Parents who refuse to place their children in appropriate safety devices should also consider that if their children survive an accident they may not come out of the experience in any normal capacity. The injured child may experience major bodily harm which might place them in a wheel chair or worse, cause them into a bed ridden status. Parents who do not use proper restraints or who put their children in the front passenger seats are labeled as negligent unlawful citizens. In some states, after being charged with negligence of a minor, these parents may have to pay a fine or spend time in prison.

There is a low percentage of parents who act contrary to the law or the safety of their children. They do so because the vehicles they have do not contain the necessary safety device or the device that is in place does not work and they cannot afford to replace it. They have the car seat but the seat belt in the back of the car just will not buckle. Life for these parents is a constant financial struggle as they rush back and forth to work. Bogged down with the hassles of life, they never take the time to tap into community resources or government service. They do not consider these options, until of course, it is too late.

Researchers identify drivers with only one child in the car, are more likely to put their child in the front seat. They then explained that children traveling in other vehicles such as vans or SUVs will be more than likely to be placed in the back seat. But with all the research and surveys there were no real indications, except for the reasons outlined in the above paragraph, why some parents do not obey the law and buckle their children in the back seat.

Taking the issue to the streets here are some speculations as to why parents have such a blatant disregard for safety first:

• Most parents indicate it is easier to care for the children when they sit in the front seat as oppose to reaching to the back.
• Parents live in fear of forgetting their children in the car as they go off to work so they believe their only option is placing them in the front seat.
• Their kids insist on seating in the front and to keep the peace to get to where they are going on time the kids get their own way.
• Some parents feel themselves exempt from the dangers as projected by others.
• Parents believe it benefits the kids to experience front seat driving.

How parents raise their children and what they believe benefits them consist of subjective thoughts and previous childhood experiences. Most of the time when you talk to parents they frequently say, my parents allowed us to do this or do that, and we survived. Subsequently, as they put their children in the front seat, they do not think about the statistical dangers. Instead, they think, “they went through” such and such in their childhood and it made them stronger, hence this will only make their children stronger. For them, not putting their children in the back seat and not using appropriate restraints is not a disregard for safety but a difference of opinion.