You’ve no doubt read about the epidemic that is killing kids left and right. It has spread to everywhere in the USA, Canada and around the globe. It’s an equal opportunity killer and it doesn’t distinguish among race, sex, income or education level.
Fortunately, there are three types of effective vaccine widely available now. They are proven to be very effective at reducing fatalities and serious injuries with no side effects. And, there’s no waiting. Here’s how to get yours:
1) Put your children age 12 and under in the back seat of your vehicle
2) Make sure your children are in a correctly installed and correctly used child safety seat appropriate for their age and size.
3) Drive undistracted and unimpaired. No alcohol, drugs, smoking, eating, texting, surfing or personal hygiene. Keep your eyes on the road and your hands on the wheel.
That’s it!
In 2006, the most recent year for WISQARS data, motor vehicle crashes accounted for the lives of 1689 children between age 1 and 14. The second leading cause of death, malignant neoplasms, took 1284 lives. Influenza and Pnuemonia (combined) took the lives of 193 children of those ages, despite the outbreak of the highly publicized avian bird flu (H5N1) that was becoming a pandemic at the time.
It’s too early to tell how many lives will be claimed by the H1N1 virus or how effective the new vaccine will be. We all hope that it will not be as bad as the government and experts seem to believe. On the other hand, we do know without a doubt how serious motor vehicle crashes are in terms of injuries and deaths to children. We also know exactly what to do in order to significantly lower these risks for our kids.
Isn’t it about time that the government and news media spend the same amount of money and attention on this epidemic that kills thousands of kids in North America each and every year in recent memory? Isn’t it about time that all parents become seriously concerned about this killer and line up for the vaccination that has been readily available for years?
To emphasize the point, clinics to administer a free H1N1 vaccine are appearing nationwide. Many counties have multiple sites to distribute tens of thousands of doses in the coming weeks and months. Is your county or city distributing tens of thousands of free child safety seats and/or hosting multiple free clinics to help parents install them? Did this information appear in TV news head stories, on the front pages of newspapers and in other media?
Back to parent responsibility, would you leave a toddler unsupervised in a bath or near a pool? Would you leave matches out on a table with an unsupervised 4-year old? Household cleaners? What about a handgun? Hopefully not! And so, drowning, fires/burns, poisoning and unintentional firearm injuries combined do not amount to the same number of childhood fatalities as motor vehicle crashes. So, why aren’t parents in general more concerned about how they restrain their kids in cars? Most parents I know don’t give it much thought at all:-(
Well, if you’re reading this blog, you may well know all this. So tell your friends again to go look at the numbers themselves and maybe they willl make a visit to their local child passenger safety inspection station right before they go for the H1N1 vaccine.
Heather- it probably depends where you live. In my county, many programs have been dropped in recent years. Others were forced to limit theirs to residents and very restricted hours. Our Safe Kids program has been an orphan for many years, being dumped by a hospital and county health department. In my town of over 100,000 people, the police department dropped its program last year. Personally, I think things should be moving in the other direction. If you have a good program in your area, consider yourself lucky and write some “thank you” letters to the chief/administrator!
wait… isn’t this common sense? They do offer free car seat installations at multiple locations in any given city… just look up your city’s website..
Thank you for this!! The focus of this article clearly was not to get the government to give out free car seats (although I would hope communities would help those who are in need). It was a well written piece comparing the frenzy over a flu virus that will sadly kill some children – yet we know car accidents have and will most likely this year as well kill FAR more children. People will take their child to get a vaccine (when their “chances” of dying from the disease are low) yet for something they are at much higher risk for is of lower importance for many parents, doctors, government officials, etc. It just doesn’t make sense. THANK YOU for this article again!
Exellent post!!!
Love this! Thanks!
Darren, this is a GREAT post! I see alot of parents who simply do not seem to car. I see alot of infants in straps WAY to loose to actually do them any good every day of the week while I am working. It makes me cringe to think of what could happen to those poor babies in an accident. This was very well written! Thanks!
Excellent and very true article. Thank you!
Excellent article! Well written and clever. And CPSDarren – you hit it on the head! We spend so much money on other “possibles” why not spend some on a “proven” and protect our most precious assets – OUR CHILDREN!
This is an awesome, well written article. Thanks for that! Since I linked it on my Facebook, about 4 of my friends have shared it as well! Get the word out!
Tracey, our federal government spends money on a lot of things people consider expensive and/or unnecessary. We spend trillions on national debt interest, occupying foreign lands, social programs of all types, military hardware programs of dubious value, financial bailouts for companies that were mismanaged, you name it. With economies of scale, what do you think it would cost to provide a free or discounted carseat or booster to those already on federal aid? To fund more clinics for more readily available free inspections, even for families who can afford a child seat? My guess is that it would be orders of magnitude less than many other ways our government spends money that don’t end up helping the herd whatsoever. Again, this is a *proven* killer, not a potential one. We spend trillions on all sorts of potential threats. A measley billion would go a long way for this well known and well understood killer. So, yes, I seriously think a class of our population that isn’t old enough to be responsible for themselves is worth the expense. Whether in the form of carseats, inspection stations, media campaigns or funding for new technologies. I mean, we now own a couple auto companies thanks to billions in bailouts. Maybe we could start by putting built-in boosters and restraints for kids in more family vehicles, or at least including them in attractive options packages on all models so dealers actually order them.
Very well written! Thanks. I agree.. I saw the indifference in parents all day on Sat while volunteering at a local community event. Its time for that to change.
Great read!
Seriously? You *seriously* think communities should be stepping up to buy car seats for people? You can’t compare this to providing vaccines, because 1. car seats are an order of magnitude more costly, and 2. providing car seats does not benefit the community as a whole, by contributing towards “herd immunity”.
You said it yourself: back to parental responsibility. Having a child is a choice, and it is one that comes with many responsibilities – providing a car seat is one of those, if you want your child to travel in cars.
Now, I am not saying it is not a good idea for communities to provide parents with some level of guidance to help ensure those seats are properly installed. But that already exists in a great many places, being provided by instututions such as fire departments, hospitals, and safety organisations. See http://www.seatcheck.org/
And, whilst we’re at it, let’s make sure you all take responsibility to make sure you buckle your kids in properly, and that they stay that way for the duration of the trip, no matter how long or short that may be. Oh, and if your car does not have a back seat (remember, centre of the back seat is the right place for the car seat) then make sure to get passenger side air bags locked out.
well said, Darren! I’m going to post a link to this at our Multiples Club blog.
clever! I love it.
Agreed! This is one vaccine that everyone can support. And this is an issue where Dubner & Levitt could put their advanced academic degrees and publicity to good use if they were so inclined.
GREAT PSA!
AWESOME!!!!
and, that’s definitely one “vaccine” I can agree with, and the only one my kids will be getting!!!!
Awesome article!