The correct use and installation of child safety seats and restraints can reduce the risk of harm or death to children by 70%. For children under 12 in 2015, car crashes accounted for 663 deaths. For older children, booster seat use can reduce the risk of injury by 45%. It is estimated that up to 59% of car seats and 20% of booster seats are improperly installed. When it comes to utilizing restraints, a child riding with an unrestrained adult is more likely to be unrestrained. All states have laws governing car seat use for children.
The Miami Herald reports on a tragic car accident in which two children were not properly restrained.
The two-car crash happened at about 11 a.m. on Sunday morning and shut down Interstate 95 southbound at Southwest 10th Street for hours.
The drivers of both vehicles were injured, but 26-year-old Zachary Schott did not need to be taken to the hospital.
A female in the second vehicle, identified as 34-year-old Raby Rashida, was taken to the hospital for evaluation. In Rashida’s vehicle were two children; 2-year-old Akeena Avanel Bennett and 5-year-old Keanna Ariel Bennett. The 2-year-old was killed and the 5-year-old was critically injured.
Neither child was in a child safety seat nor restrained.
The cause of the accident is still being investigated.