Ron sits down with IIHS’s Dr. Jessica Jermakian. Together they break down Child Passenger Safety Week: rear-facing timelines, why kids belong in the back seat to age 12, proper restraint selection/installation, modeling safe driving, and what to do if your airbag light is on—along with trusted resources at www.IIHS.org
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to the Ron Andian The Car Doctor podcast. Ron
takes your calls at eight five five five six zero
nine nine zero zero to help you solve your automotive problems.
But he also does great interviews like this one.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Hey, you know what next week is? Welcome back, by
the way.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Next week is September twenty one through the twenty seventh
is Child Passenger Safety Week. And this is a subject
near and dear to my heart. And you know a
grandpa now right, two grandchildren. And I always look at
the how car seats are set up in vehicles that
come into the shop, and I wonder if they're set
up right. And I see some goofy things that parents do,
and I thought to get Child Passenger Safety Week off
(00:41):
to a great start. We've reached out to the Insurance
Institute for Highway Safety. They're based out of Virginia, and
here to talk about it is doctor Jessica Jermonkian.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Armenian. Sort of. We've established that, right, doctor, yes, sort of.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
I'm married into the name, right so.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
And in all fairness, right, I've given you the briefing
on I'll give you my pilloff recipe after the interview.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
So perfect you'll be all set.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
So tell us about the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
and where is it and what is it exactly that
you folks do.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
Yeah, sure, So the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. We're
located in Virginia. We have our Vehicle Research Center, which
is where we crash vehicles and do tests on vehicles
out on our track. They were funded solely by auto
insurers and our mission is to reduce property damage, injury
(01:40):
and fatalities in crashes, so keeping our roads safer, and
we do that through research and communications. Many people know
us through our vehicle ratings program, where we rate vehicles
on how safe they are.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
So you'll look at you'll look at vehicles, you'll look
at you know, how it crashes, and then rate it
and say.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Well, this vehicle as a seven, and this vehicle is
a six and so on and so.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
Forth, something like that. A little bit more like this
is a this is good, this is marginal, this is
poor performance. And we have we bundle all of our awards,
all of our ratings into a ward that we call
Top Safety Pick. So if you hear that on advertising
that that comes from the Insurance Institute for Highway safety.
(02:25):
But it's important to remember that we do a lot
of work across the whole spectrum of traffic safety, not
just focused on vehicles, but we also look at infrastructure,
driver behavior, you know, pedestrian, cyclists, all of it.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
So if I've put my kid in a top rated
safe vehicle, why do I need to use a child restraint?
Speaker 4 (02:48):
Well, putting them in a top rated safe vehicle is
a good first start. But the thing is, vehicle seats
and restraint systems are designed for adults and kids are smaller.
They're adults, restraint systems don't fit them, and not only
are they smaller, but they also don't have the same proportions,
and they aren't they aren't fully developed, and so they
(03:11):
need They have special needs throughout different parts of their life.
So we know how to protect kids and crashes, but
they do need special equipment in certain parts of their
of their development to make sure they're getting the best
protection in a crash.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
So, doctor Jimalkin, you know, when we look at this,
we're if I'm a parent, if I'm a new parent
and I'm trying to you know, set my child up,
I want to start driving with them. You know, what
are the top things parents need to keep in mind
when they're using either a child restraint or a booster seat.
You know, how do I keep my kids safe in
a car when I'm picking out these things?
Speaker 4 (03:47):
Well, so the most important thing is to make sure
your child is buckled up on every on every trip,
no matter how short. Then we really want kids to
be in the right seat for their agent size. So,
as I mentioned, for children are in different child restraint
types throughout their you know, from infancy up until they
(04:08):
are able to use the adult belts alone, and those
needs changed during that time. So we want to make
sure that the child is in the right seat for
their agent size. And then we of course want to
make sure that they're snugly restrained that in that child
safety seat, so with the harness snug or the vehicle
belt snug.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
So you know, is some of this a conversation about
how much does the child weigh? How big is the
child tall? Not just necessarily wait and then there's got
to be a conversation in here. At some point we
turn the child from facing rear to facing forward, which
is you know, that's kind of like we made potty training.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
That's like a big deal right, you know, And how
do we go through all that exactly? Yeah, how do
we go through.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
All that exactly? Well, So the youngest kids, we need
them to be rear facing and ideally until they reach
the height or weight limit of the seat, but we
need them to be rear facing at least until age two.
The car seat shell spreads those forces, those crash forces
across their body and head and protects their undeveloped necks
(05:18):
in the in the event of a crash. So it's
really important. The fact is, we'd all be safer rear facing,
but we need those youngest kids because they have those
less developed next and their heads are proportionally very large,
and that could put a lot of forces on the
neck in the event of a crash. So it's parents
shouldn't be in a rush to turn their kids forward facing.
(05:40):
They should keep them rear facing for as long as
as possible, and.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
They should keep them in the back seat, right, you know,
I see I see some parents, Well I want to
you know, I want to keep my eye on the baby,
so I put the baby in the cars in the
seat next to me, you know, not thinking about in
the event God forbid of an accident.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
The airbag goes off.
Speaker 4 (05:59):
Yeah, it's very important that kids remain in the back seat,
especially absolutely for rear facing kids. When airbags first came
out in the mid nineties, we had lots of tragedies
of where children were in the front seats and were
injured or killed by deploying airbags, and so we had
a very successful education campaign and getting parents to understand
(06:23):
that they need to keep their kids in the back
So that recommendation still holds. We want kids twelve and
under to still be in the back seat. The good
news is that airbags have changed a lot since the
mid nineties, so we do have some protections in place
in the front seat to make them more friendly when
(06:46):
maybe occupants are not in a great initial position. But
the evidence still shows that kids are still safest in
the back seat.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
So listen, I'm gonna you know, I'm a parent and
I want to sit in I want to talk to
my kid. He's ten years old. We're gonna, we're gonna
go we're gonna go fishing this morning. We're gonna I'm
gonna put him in front of the pickup truck next
to me, and I can turn my air bag off.
How big of a disaster. Is that How many things
am I doing wrong there? Even though he's in a
seat belt. Now he's got no air Now he's got
(07:16):
no air bag. How big of a problem is that?
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Doctor?
Speaker 4 (07:19):
Yeah. So one of one of the reasons we recommend
kids twelve and undersit in the back seat is it's
not just about age and size, but it's also about maturity.
And we want to make sure that kids can sit
in that seat in front of the air bag, sit
with you know, all the way back in the seat,
and not get themselves in a position where they could
interact with a deploying air bag. So it's really important
(07:42):
that kids younger twelve and younger stay in the back seat.
And you know, I know you want to talk to
I know you want to talk to your kids going
on the fishing trip, but you can do that right
in the you know, right from front seat to back.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
Seat, right through the rear view mirror. And it's just
because I see it. That's that to me, is one
of the biggest sources of tragedy. I can't tell you
how many cars come through the shop, and I know
they don't come through it a second time because I
scold them enough the first time, take the seat and
put it behind you. You don't need to do that
because I don't think people understand the exploding force of
(08:16):
an air bag and how that's like a shotgun blast
going off in your face to a to a large degree,
so to a child, that can be that can be fatal,
you know.
Speaker 4 (08:26):
Yeah, And it's it's really important that all of us
stay away from Like if we're sitting in an appropriate
position in you know, in either the driver's seat or
the front passenger seat, we are in a good position
in the event of a crash, you know, the air
bag will deploy and we will move into it. The
problem comes when people get too close to it when
(08:47):
it deploys.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Right right, doctor, doctor Jamaican Ron and nanny and the
car doctor and I will both be back right after this.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Doctor. You can stick around. I'm sorry I should have
asked that before I assumed, right, you can stick around
a couple of minutes.
Speaker 4 (08:59):
Happy to stick around.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Thank you so much. Let's pull over. Take the pause.
I'm unning ENnie in the car. Doctor. I'll be back
right after this. Hey, it's us, we came back run
an Innie in the car. Doctor.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
I'm here with doctor Jimonkiin from the Insurance Institute for
Highway Safety. We're talking about how next week is Child
Passenger Safety Week, but we like to think of Child
Passenger Safety Week as every week, right.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
Doctor, Absolutely, But it is nice to have a week
that reminds us that we should be thinking about, you know,
restraining our kids on every trip and buckling up ourselves right, and.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
Being safe in the car because it is a two
ton projectile going down the road at sixty five seventy
miles an hour.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
You know.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
Now, I remember as a kid, my dad had a
rug story. He had a sixty three four Galaxy station wagon,
you know, one of those things with the everything was
metal inside the car, and you know, I'm going to
the airport, jumping the back of the car and Dad
would drive in my brother and I we'd roll around
in the back of the station wagon loose. How dangerous
was that?
Speaker 4 (10:00):
You know?
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Our kids safer today or was it okay because that
car was made.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
More out of metal.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
No, you were lucky. You were lucky that you didn't
have any serious crashes in that situation. But kids are
safer today than they've ever been. Kids. Child deaths and
crashes have been cut in half in the last twenty years,
and that's for a few reasons. Cars are safer for everyone.
We already talked about that, and more kids are in
(10:28):
child restraints than ever before. That is a big success story.
We've had good education campaigns, we've had stricter laws that
have been effective, but we know that parents want to
keep their kids safe. So we want to give the
parents tools to and the information they need to best
protect their kids in a crash.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
Right, is there a way and obviously the first way
to set a good example for their kids. Parents shouldn't
let them roll around on the back of a sixty
three Ford Galaxy station Wagon. But is there things that
parents can do today to, you know, to show their kids, Hey,
this is car safety.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
This is what you need to do.
Speaker 4 (11:06):
Well. Yeah, of course, your kids are always watching you,
so it's good to model good safe behavior in the car.
It starts, of course with buckling up on every trip,
but it also extends to things like distractions or staying
off your cell phone, being a generally being a safe driver.
And it's important to remember that while your kids are
young now, they will grow into teens who drive and
(11:29):
they're watching you and learning how to drive safely. Another
thing that I like to tell parents is that safety
is non negotiable, Like you can negotiate some things like
meal times and bedtimes, but safety is not negotiable, and
so it's it's important to hold that line that it's
(11:50):
important that we be safe in the vehicle.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
You only get one chance to not have the accident.
I like to think that you know that one moment
to be safe. So besides setting the good example, besides
putting them in restraints and booster seats and so forth,
and doing all those right things. Other comments other ideas
keeping their kids safe both in and around cars.
Speaker 4 (12:11):
Well. Of course, the most important is to buckle up
on every trip in the right restraint for their age
and size, tightly secured in the vehicle and the child
in the child restraint. But also kids are out and about,
their pedestrians, their cyclists, and so important things to remember.
Always wear a helmet when cycling, you know, practice safe walking,
(12:33):
follow the rules of the road as a pedestrian, don't
dart out into the road. Also really important to be
aware of where your children are relatives to your car
when you move it. There are so many tragedies with
kids getting into cars, whether being left in cars or
getting in them themselves. So keep cars locked so kids
(12:54):
don't enter when you're not around.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
Right, Jessica, I've got two comments in our last minute.
One react to this the parents driving a car the
airbag lights on, which means the air bag won't work
in an accident fifteen seconds or less.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
What are your thoughts? How would you address that? What's
so bad about that?
Speaker 4 (13:12):
Well, air bags are important protection for people in the vehicle,
and so if your air bag light is on, I
would suggest you call your mechanic.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
Well, because isn't it so that you know just the
crush zone, the protection zone of the vehicle is designed
to work with an air bag and without it. Now
we're losing safety effect in.
Speaker 4 (13:31):
This now absolutely yep.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Okay, where can the listeners go get more information? I
think there's a bunch of website and resources out there
for them.
Speaker 4 (13:39):
We have lots of information on our website how things
like how to pick the right seat, how to install it,
how to know when to move from one restraint to
the next. You can find that information on our website
at IIHS dot org slash kids. We also have great
information for teen drivers and parents of teen drivers.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
Cool things. Well, we're going to get back.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
I want to talk about we were talking before off
air about picking a car for your teenager, so that's
going to be a future conversation between you and I,
Doctor Jamakian. It was an absolute pleasure. I appreciate the time,
and you're always welcome back to the car.
Speaker 4 (14:11):
Doctor, you'd be well, thanks so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
You're very welcome. I'm running any in the car. Doctor.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
I'll be back right after this. Thank you again to
doctor Jermakian and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and
all that they're trying to do to raise or awareness.
The road is a very unforgiving place and I think
of this all the time. And you're strapping a child
into that vehicle. Make sure the child is safe, make
(14:37):
sure the car seat is approved. There are resources, there
are places that you can go to get more information.
What's the best car seat, what's the best way to
put it in? And I can't emphasize enough the conversation
that we had with regards to when do you turn
the child forward and when do you allow them to
sit in the front seat, because I see it every
(14:58):
day in the shop I see the mistakes parents are making.
And you know, one of the things we didn't talk about,
and it occurred to me during the pause over the
last break that you know, I have to ask her
we're going to have her back again. I have to
talk to her about how safe a vehicles where there's
loose stuff in there, you know, do the do the
(15:18):
things on the back shelfs of cars become projectiles in
the event of an accident. And the debris that seems
to be collected in vehicles today, because it seems like
we travel with a lot of junk in our cars,
and I wonder if that has any effect on safety,
and you know, becomes a danger in the event of
an accident. But for now, we'll focus on child safety
(15:40):
car Seat Week coming up next week, and like she said,
more information out at the website IIHS dot org and
you can see everything that they're doing in terms of,
you know, keeping us better informed and keeping us safe.
You know about on the road and how to do things.
And it's very easy to see the danger of the road.
It really is. Just go travel any interstate, try and
(16:03):
do the speed limit, try and stay out of the
way of everybody that's driving kind of crazy, so don't
be one of them. Let's be safe and like I say,
let's arrive alive. Boy, there's a saying from the past.
So but anyway, again, thank you to doctor Jermakian and
the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. I'm running any in
the car doctor until the next time. Good mechanics aren't expensive,
(16:26):
they're priceless.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
See you.
Welcome to the Ron Andian The Car Doctor podcast. Ron
takes your calls at eight five five five six zero
nine nine zero zero to help you solve your automotive problems.
But he also does great interviews like this one.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Hey, you know what next week is? Welcome back, by
the way.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Next week is September twenty one through the twenty seventh
is Child Passenger Safety Week. And this is a subject
near and dear to my heart. And you know a
grandpa now right, two grandchildren. And I always look at
the how car seats are set up in vehicles that
come into the shop, and I wonder if they're set
up right. And I see some goofy things that parents do,
and I thought to get Child Passenger Safety Week off
(00:41):
to a great start. We've reached out to the Insurance
Institute for Highway Safety. They're based out of Virginia, and
here to talk about it is doctor Jessica Jermonkian.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Armenian. Sort of. We've established that, right, doctor, yes, sort of.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
I'm married into the name, right so.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
And in all fairness, right, I've given you the briefing
on I'll give you my pilloff recipe after the interview.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
So perfect you'll be all set.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
So tell us about the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
and where is it and what is it exactly that
you folks do.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
Yeah, sure, So the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. We're
located in Virginia. We have our Vehicle Research Center, which
is where we crash vehicles and do tests on vehicles
out on our track. They were funded solely by auto
insurers and our mission is to reduce property damage, injury
(01:40):
and fatalities in crashes, so keeping our roads safer, and
we do that through research and communications. Many people know
us through our vehicle ratings program, where we rate vehicles
on how safe they are.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
So you'll look at you'll look at vehicles, you'll look
at you know, how it crashes, and then rate it
and say.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Well, this vehicle as a seven, and this vehicle is
a six and so on and so.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
Forth, something like that. A little bit more like this
is a this is good, this is marginal, this is
poor performance. And we have we bundle all of our awards,
all of our ratings into a ward that we call
Top Safety Pick. So if you hear that on advertising
that that comes from the Insurance Institute for Highway safety.
(02:25):
But it's important to remember that we do a lot
of work across the whole spectrum of traffic safety, not
just focused on vehicles, but we also look at infrastructure,
driver behavior, you know, pedestrian, cyclists, all of it.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
So if I've put my kid in a top rated
safe vehicle, why do I need to use a child restraint?
Speaker 4 (02:48):
Well, putting them in a top rated safe vehicle is
a good first start. But the thing is, vehicle seats
and restraint systems are designed for adults and kids are smaller.
They're adults, restraint systems don't fit them, and not only
are they smaller, but they also don't have the same proportions,
and they aren't they aren't fully developed, and so they
(03:11):
need They have special needs throughout different parts of their life.
So we know how to protect kids and crashes, but
they do need special equipment in certain parts of their
of their development to make sure they're getting the best
protection in a crash.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
So, doctor Jimalkin, you know, when we look at this,
we're if I'm a parent, if I'm a new parent
and I'm trying to you know, set my child up,
I want to start driving with them. You know, what
are the top things parents need to keep in mind
when they're using either a child restraint or a booster seat.
You know, how do I keep my kids safe in
a car when I'm picking out these things?
Speaker 4 (03:47):
Well, so the most important thing is to make sure
your child is buckled up on every on every trip,
no matter how short. Then we really want kids to
be in the right seat for their agent size. So,
as I mentioned, for children are in different child restraint
types throughout their you know, from infancy up until they
(04:08):
are able to use the adult belts alone, and those
needs changed during that time. So we want to make
sure that the child is in the right seat for
their agent size. And then we of course want to
make sure that they're snugly restrained that in that child
safety seat, so with the harness snug or the vehicle
belt snug.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
So you know, is some of this a conversation about
how much does the child weigh? How big is the
child tall? Not just necessarily wait and then there's got
to be a conversation in here. At some point we
turn the child from facing rear to facing forward, which
is you know, that's kind of like we made potty training.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
That's like a big deal right, you know, And how
do we go through all that exactly? Yeah, how do
we go through.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
All that exactly? Well, So the youngest kids, we need
them to be rear facing and ideally until they reach
the height or weight limit of the seat, but we
need them to be rear facing at least until age two.
The car seat shell spreads those forces, those crash forces
across their body and head and protects their undeveloped necks
(05:18):
in the in the event of a crash. So it's
really important. The fact is, we'd all be safer rear facing,
but we need those youngest kids because they have those
less developed next and their heads are proportionally very large,
and that could put a lot of forces on the
neck in the event of a crash. So it's parents
shouldn't be in a rush to turn their kids forward facing.
(05:40):
They should keep them rear facing for as long as
as possible, and.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
They should keep them in the back seat, right, you know,
I see I see some parents, Well I want to
you know, I want to keep my eye on the baby,
so I put the baby in the cars in the
seat next to me, you know, not thinking about in
the event God forbid of an accident.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
The airbag goes off.
Speaker 4 (05:59):
Yeah, it's very important that kids remain in the back seat,
especially absolutely for rear facing kids. When airbags first came
out in the mid nineties, we had lots of tragedies
of where children were in the front seats and were
injured or killed by deploying airbags, and so we had
a very successful education campaign and getting parents to understand
(06:23):
that they need to keep their kids in the back
So that recommendation still holds. We want kids twelve and
under to still be in the back seat. The good
news is that airbags have changed a lot since the
mid nineties, so we do have some protections in place
in the front seat to make them more friendly when
(06:46):
maybe occupants are not in a great initial position. But
the evidence still shows that kids are still safest in
the back seat.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
So listen, I'm gonna you know, I'm a parent and
I want to sit in I want to talk to
my kid. He's ten years old. We're gonna, we're gonna
go we're gonna go fishing this morning. We're gonna I'm
gonna put him in front of the pickup truck next
to me, and I can turn my air bag off.
How big of a disaster. Is that How many things
am I doing wrong there? Even though he's in a
seat belt. Now he's got no air Now he's got
(07:16):
no air bag. How big of a problem is that?
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Doctor?
Speaker 4 (07:19):
Yeah. So one of one of the reasons we recommend
kids twelve and undersit in the back seat is it's
not just about age and size, but it's also about maturity.
And we want to make sure that kids can sit
in that seat in front of the air bag, sit
with you know, all the way back in the seat,
and not get themselves in a position where they could
interact with a deploying air bag. So it's really important
(07:42):
that kids younger twelve and younger stay in the back seat.
And you know, I know you want to talk to
I know you want to talk to your kids going
on the fishing trip, but you can do that right
in the you know, right from front seat to back.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
Seat, right through the rear view mirror. And it's just
because I see it. That's that to me, is one
of the biggest sources of tragedy. I can't tell you
how many cars come through the shop, and I know
they don't come through it a second time because I
scold them enough the first time, take the seat and
put it behind you. You don't need to do that
because I don't think people understand the exploding force of
(08:16):
an air bag and how that's like a shotgun blast
going off in your face to a to a large degree,
so to a child, that can be that can be fatal,
you know.
Speaker 4 (08:26):
Yeah, And it's it's really important that all of us
stay away from Like if we're sitting in an appropriate
position in you know, in either the driver's seat or
the front passenger seat, we are in a good position
in the event of a crash, you know, the air
bag will deploy and we will move into it. The
problem comes when people get too close to it when
(08:47):
it deploys.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Right right, doctor, doctor Jamaican Ron and nanny and the
car doctor and I will both be back right after this.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Doctor. You can stick around. I'm sorry I should have
asked that before I assumed, right, you can stick around
a couple of minutes.
Speaker 4 (08:59):
Happy to stick around.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Thank you so much. Let's pull over. Take the pause.
I'm unning ENnie in the car. Doctor. I'll be back
right after this. Hey, it's us, we came back run
an Innie in the car. Doctor.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
I'm here with doctor Jimonkiin from the Insurance Institute for
Highway Safety. We're talking about how next week is Child
Passenger Safety Week, but we like to think of Child
Passenger Safety Week as every week, right.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
Doctor, Absolutely, But it is nice to have a week
that reminds us that we should be thinking about, you know,
restraining our kids on every trip and buckling up ourselves right, and.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
Being safe in the car because it is a two
ton projectile going down the road at sixty five seventy
miles an hour.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
You know.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
Now, I remember as a kid, my dad had a
rug story. He had a sixty three four Galaxy station wagon,
you know, one of those things with the everything was
metal inside the car, and you know, I'm going to
the airport, jumping the back of the car and Dad
would drive in my brother and I we'd roll around
in the back of the station wagon loose. How dangerous
was that?
Speaker 4 (10:00):
You know?
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Our kids safer today or was it okay because that
car was made.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
More out of metal.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
No, you were lucky. You were lucky that you didn't
have any serious crashes in that situation. But kids are
safer today than they've ever been. Kids. Child deaths and
crashes have been cut in half in the last twenty years,
and that's for a few reasons. Cars are safer for everyone.
We already talked about that, and more kids are in
(10:28):
child restraints than ever before. That is a big success story.
We've had good education campaigns, we've had stricter laws that
have been effective, but we know that parents want to
keep their kids safe. So we want to give the
parents tools to and the information they need to best
protect their kids in a crash.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
Right, is there a way and obviously the first way
to set a good example for their kids. Parents shouldn't
let them roll around on the back of a sixty
three Ford Galaxy station Wagon. But is there things that
parents can do today to, you know, to show their kids, Hey,
this is car safety.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
This is what you need to do.
Speaker 4 (11:06):
Well. Yeah, of course, your kids are always watching you,
so it's good to model good safe behavior in the car.
It starts, of course with buckling up on every trip,
but it also extends to things like distractions or staying
off your cell phone, being a generally being a safe driver.
And it's important to remember that while your kids are
young now, they will grow into teens who drive and
(11:29):
they're watching you and learning how to drive safely. Another
thing that I like to tell parents is that safety
is non negotiable, Like you can negotiate some things like
meal times and bedtimes, but safety is not negotiable, and
so it's it's important to hold that line that it's
(11:50):
important that we be safe in the vehicle.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
You only get one chance to not have the accident.
I like to think that you know that one moment
to be safe. So besides setting the good example, besides
putting them in restraints and booster seats and so forth,
and doing all those right things. Other comments other ideas
keeping their kids safe both in and around cars.
Speaker 4 (12:11):
Well. Of course, the most important is to buckle up
on every trip in the right restraint for their age
and size, tightly secured in the vehicle and the child
in the child restraint. But also kids are out and about,
their pedestrians, their cyclists, and so important things to remember.
Always wear a helmet when cycling, you know, practice safe walking,
(12:33):
follow the rules of the road as a pedestrian, don't
dart out into the road. Also really important to be
aware of where your children are relatives to your car
when you move it. There are so many tragedies with
kids getting into cars, whether being left in cars or
getting in them themselves. So keep cars locked so kids
(12:54):
don't enter when you're not around.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
Right, Jessica, I've got two comments in our last minute.
One react to this the parents driving a car the
airbag lights on, which means the air bag won't work
in an accident fifteen seconds or less.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
What are your thoughts? How would you address that? What's
so bad about that?
Speaker 4 (13:12):
Well, air bags are important protection for people in the vehicle,
and so if your air bag light is on, I
would suggest you call your mechanic.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
Well, because isn't it so that you know just the
crush zone, the protection zone of the vehicle is designed
to work with an air bag and without it. Now
we're losing safety effect in.
Speaker 4 (13:31):
This now absolutely yep.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Okay, where can the listeners go get more information? I
think there's a bunch of website and resources out there
for them.
Speaker 4 (13:39):
We have lots of information on our website how things
like how to pick the right seat, how to install it,
how to know when to move from one restraint to
the next. You can find that information on our website
at IIHS dot org slash kids. We also have great
information for teen drivers and parents of teen drivers.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
Cool things. Well, we're going to get back.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
I want to talk about we were talking before off
air about picking a car for your teenager, so that's
going to be a future conversation between you and I,
Doctor Jamakian. It was an absolute pleasure. I appreciate the time,
and you're always welcome back to the car.
Speaker 4 (14:11):
Doctor, you'd be well, thanks so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
You're very welcome. I'm running any in the car. Doctor.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
I'll be back right after this. Thank you again to
doctor Jermakian and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and
all that they're trying to do to raise or awareness.
The road is a very unforgiving place and I think
of this all the time. And you're strapping a child
into that vehicle. Make sure the child is safe, make
(14:37):
sure the car seat is approved. There are resources, there
are places that you can go to get more information.
What's the best car seat, what's the best way to
put it in? And I can't emphasize enough the conversation
that we had with regards to when do you turn
the child forward and when do you allow them to
sit in the front seat, because I see it every
(14:58):
day in the shop I see the mistakes parents are making.
And you know, one of the things we didn't talk about,
and it occurred to me during the pause over the
last break that you know, I have to ask her
we're going to have her back again. I have to
talk to her about how safe a vehicles where there's
loose stuff in there, you know, do the do the
(15:18):
things on the back shelfs of cars become projectiles in
the event of an accident. And the debris that seems
to be collected in vehicles today, because it seems like
we travel with a lot of junk in our cars,
and I wonder if that has any effect on safety,
and you know, becomes a danger in the event of
an accident. But for now, we'll focus on child safety
(15:40):
car Seat Week coming up next week, and like she said,
more information out at the website IIHS dot org and
you can see everything that they're doing in terms of,
you know, keeping us better informed and keeping us safe.
You know about on the road and how to do things.
And it's very easy to see the danger of the road.
It really is. Just go travel any interstate, try and
(16:03):
do the speed limit, try and stay out of the
way of everybody that's driving kind of crazy, so don't
be one of them. Let's be safe and like I say,
let's arrive alive. Boy, there's a saying from the past.
So but anyway, again, thank you to doctor Jermakian and
the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. I'm running any in
the car doctor until the next time. Good mechanics aren't expensive,
(16:26):
they're priceless.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
See you.
Host
Ron Ananian
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