Tech Update – September 2011

September 18–24 Is National CPS Week — New CPS Week Tools for Techs

In support of your CPS Week efforts, NHTSA is pleased to provide techs with new materials in English and Spanish. Check them out at http://www.TrafficSafetyMarketing.gov for lots of support for Child Passenger Safety Week 2011 and National Seat Check Saturday. In addition to copyright-free posters and educational materials, earned media templates are also available, including pre- and post-event press releases, talking points, and op-ed articles on car seat inspection events and NHTSA’s updated child passenger safety recommendations. We encourage all techs and their traffic safety partners to download and share these materials, both on-line and in your community.

Safe Kids USA Releases National Study of 79,000 Car Seats

A new study was released from Safe Kids USA based on a national study of 79,000 car seat inspections from 2009–2010. The study is titled, A Look Inside American Family Vehicles: National Study of 79,000 Car Seats, 2009−2010. Findings from the study show that there has been progress, but there is still a need for further improvement. Areas that show progress, but need further improvement, are seat belts (especially with booster seats and rear-facing convertibles); lower anchors (especially rear-facing convertible and forward-facing CRs with harnesses); and harnesses (especially rear-facing infant and convertible CRs). Parents struggled most with installation and use of infant seats without bases. A key finding of the study was that less than 30% of the forward-facing child seats arriving at seat check events used a top tether. The study is available at: http://www.safekids.org/assets/docs/safety-basics/safety-tips-by-risk-area/sk-car-seat-report-2011.pdf.

Lower Extremity Injuries Uncommon for Rear-facing Children

Many parents express concern about their toddler remaining rear-facing to age 2 because it doesn’t look like there is enough room for longer legs. Parents fear that this might put their child at risk for leg injuries in a crash or, at the very least, be uncomfortable for their child.

In a recent webinar for CPS Technicians-Instructors, Dr. Dennis Durbin, MD, MSCE (lead author of the AAP’s new Policy Statement and Technical Report on Child Passenger Safety and co-scientific director of Center for Injury Research and Prevention at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Pediatric Emergency Medicine physician) explained that science shows just the opposite to be true. Researchers have found no elevated risk of injury for children ages 12–23 months due to rear-facing restraints.

“The second most common crash injury to forward-facing children is lower extremity injuries, behind head injuries,” says Dr. Durbin. “This is caused by the legs flailing in a crash and hitting the interior of the car, usually the back of the vehicle’s front seat.” This particular mechanism of injury is extremely rare for children who are rear-facing because leg movement is better controlled. In fact, Dr. Durbin expects to see a reduction in lower extremity injuries for 12 to 23-month-old children because of the new recommendation. In a study looking at children ages 0–23 months, children in forward-facing seats had a 76% increased risk of injury compared to children in rear-facing seats.

Regarding the comfort issue, Dr. Durbin says that children may find it more comfortable to have their legs bent, with their feet on the vehicle seat, rather than having their legs dangling in a forward-facing position. “Children at this age usually fall asleep in cars, even on short rides. The recumbent rear-facing position is more comfortable and safer. We’ve all seen the position of an upright forward-facing child’s head and neck when they are asleep. This would be concerning if a crash were to occur.” Safety seats that can stay rear facing to higher weights also have deeper seats, providing more leg room. CPS Technicians are encouraged to watch the free webinar for more evidence-based tips on how to explain the new recommendations. View the webinar at http://www.research.chop.edu/programs/injury/educational_advocacy/safety_updates.php.

New CPS Resources for CPSTs

Safe Kids USA and long-time Certification Program Sponsor State Farm® are pleased to announce new Basic Child Passenger Safety e-brochures. We are especially pleased to provide them in several languages: English, Spanish, Chinese, French, Korean, Tagalog, and Vietnamese. Check them out at http://www.safekids.org/educators/educational-tip-sheets.html.

Inflatable Seat Belts: What’s What

Inflatable vehicle shoulder belts that will be available by Ford are an innovative extension of air bag and seat belt technology for occupant protection. As with any new technology, questions are raised as to how this may impact our smallest passengers. We have learned that innovations may have unintended consequences, which we may need to consider when assisting a family. As it did years ago when front passenger air bags became commonplace as a supplemental protection with the lap/shoulder belt, we experienced tragedies of unintended consequences. These lessons are incorporated into new technologies, as manufacturers tested air bags with out-of-position occupants, for example.

Another example of innovative technology is the inflatable adult safety belt developed by Ford. After more than 10 years of testing and retesting, they are rolling out a technology that will improve safety for rear-seat passengers. The belts expand in the event of a crash to distribute the force of the impact across a wider area of the passenger’s chest. The impact on children in and out of child restraints has also been a key focus of research.

Learn more about this directly from Srini Sundararajan, the technical leader for Ford’s research and advanced engineering division, who has been spearheading this new technology. Join Safe Kids at a webinar, supported by State Farm®, on August 25, 2011, from 1:00–2:30 PM ET to discuss the history, rationale, effectiveness, and impact of inflatable safety belts on safety. Details are in the CEU Corner section of this edition of the CPS Express and at http://bit.ly/Aug25webinar.

Kids Are Safer When a Grandparent Is Driving

AAP Press Release (7/18/2011) – Grandparents often drive their grandchildren in vehicles, and many grandparents are in an older age group that has a higher risk of severe crashes. Researchers in a new study, “Grandparents Driving Grandchildren: An Evaluation of Child Passenger Safety and Injuries,” in the August 2011 issue of Pediatrics (published on-line July 18), hypothesized that grandparent-driven children would be at higher risk of injury. What they found is that children are actually safer in a crash when grandma or grandpa is behind the wheel.

The study authors examined five years’ worth of crash data, including 217,976 children. Grandparents comprised 9.5% of drivers in crashes (the rest were parents) but resulted in only 6.6% of the total injuries. Nearly all children were reported to be restrained at the time of the crash; however, children in grandparent-driven vehicles were less likely to be optimally restrained. Despite this, children in grandparent-driven crashes had half the risk of injuries as those in parent-driven crashes. Study authors suggest grandparents may drive more cautiously when they have “precious cargo” on board, but they also conclude that children’s safety could be enhanced if grandparents followed current child restraint recommendations.

CPS and the Modern School Bus

The school bus is one of our safest modes of transportation. It must adhere to many FMVSS standards, and bus drivers are professionals who must meet physical requirements and attend a variety of trainings each year. In addition, the influx of smaller children and infants (the children of teen parents) and those with special needs who are transported on school buses has led to the need for training related to appropriate ways to safely restrain these children.

NHTSA created the CPS Restraint Systems on School Buses National Training to educate CPS Technicians about school buses and to teach school bus drivers/assistants/administrators about child passenger safety. The goal is for CPSTs and school bus personnel to work together to provide safe transportation to the preschoolers, infants, and children with special needs who ride on school buses. The course is offered several times a year at a variety of venues; upcoming course details can be found at http://bit.ly/schoolbuscourse.

Along with specialized training, strides have been made in the design and safety of child restraints used on school buses, called child safety restraint systems, or CSRS. (“CSRS” is preferred over “CR” in the pupil transportation world, as it clarifies the safety intent of the word “restraint,” which is a term that can provoke negative reactions in some caregivers, especially those with students that have behavioral needs.) A variety of school bus-specific CSRS are currently available, which are easy to use and appropriate for the size and temperament of preschool-aged children or children with behavioral or positional needs. In many cases, though, conventional CRs work as well as CSRS; recently, at least one infant seat, the Combi Navette, was promoted as being school bus friendly.

The safety of school bus seating has also improved. As of October 2011, bus seats with lap-shoulder belts (versus just lap-only belts) will be required on new school buses with GVW less than 10,000 lbs. Although large buses will not be required to provide seat belts in most states, schools will have the option to purchase new buses with the new seat belt technology.

School bus lap-shoulder belt systems are adjustable, so schools can use the same buses to transport children from elementary through high school age. The height adjuster on the shoulder portion of these seat belts easily slides up and down to fit a variety of child sizes. Still, some children are too small for these seat belts, even when adjusted. If that’s the case, they should be transported in a properly fitted and installed CSRS. CPSTs should note that a booster seat is not a solution for these smaller children, as manufacturers of school bus seats with seat belts do not recommend booster seat use on buses. If you would like to learn more about booster seats and the school bus, see “Why No Booster Seats on Buses,” at the Safe Ride News website at http://www.saferidenews.com.

On-line CEU Opportunity

  • Provided by: The Texas AgriLife Extension Service Passenger Safety Project
    • The Texas AgriLife Extension Service Passenger Safety Project is offering three new on-line tech update courses that will provide 2 CEUs each. It is the on-line version of the Tech Update Workshop offered by Passenger Safety on February 2, 2011, in Bryan and across the state via video conferencing. The course, titled Tech Update 2011, Parts 1-3, is available at: http://extensiononline.tamu.edu/courses/volunteers.php. Note that the maximum CEUs allowed in the on-line education category is five.

Other On-line CEU Opportunities

  • Provided by: Safe Kids Worldwide and NHTSA
    • Total available: 6 CEUs
    • Location: http://www.safekidswebinars.org/
    • Currently available: Vehicle Safety Part 1: Federal Regulations, Vehicle Safety Part 2: Consumer Testing, School Buses, A Tech’ s Guide to Recalls, and Transporting Children in Vehicles Other Than Cars.
    • Technicians will register, log in, finish the webinar, and print a certificate of completion. This webinar requires participants to gather information from other sites (links provided) to have a quality learning experience.
    • ** Each webinar is available for download (PDF) for local technical update sessions.
  • Provided by: UNC Highway Safety Research Center and NC CPS Conference
  • Provided by: National Child Passenger Safety Board
    • Total available: 4 CEUs
    • Location: http://www.cpsboard.org/
    • Four presentations: new child restraints, boosters and airbags, LATCH and Tethers, and Fact or Fiction. Each presentation is available for download. Details and instructions are available on the Board’s website.

Re-Certification Reminder

You may re-certify up to four months before your certification expiration date. Avoid problems – don’t delay!

Basic re-certification requirements and deadlines:

  • Five seat checks approved by a certified instructor (you may use the technician proxy option). You can do the checks at any time during your certification cycle as long as they are entered on-line and a certified instructor approves them before your re-certification date.
  • Community education (choose one):
    1. Participation in at least one two-hour checkup event with at least one other CPS technician using any standardized checklist to provide documentation, if needed.
    2. Provide at least four hours of community education. Examples include making presentations to parents, educators, kids, organizations (such as PTAs or law enforcement), or other stakeholders who are not technicians.
  • A minimum of six hours of CPS technical continuing education units earned and reported during a current two-year certification cycle.
    • You cannot carry over CEUs from one period to the next, even if you have accumulated more CEUs than are required.
    • You can record CEUs any time during your certification cycle, but they must fit into one of the five approved categories and meet content requirements.
  • Register and pay the re-certification fee before your certification expiration date.

To get to the payment screen, you must have:

  1. Completed all five seat checks (entered and CPSTI approved).
  2. Entered at least six CEUs.
  3. Entered your community event information.

Once all three are done, you will see a “Click Here to Continue” button that will take you to the payment screens.

Once your registration is complete, your re-certification will be processed in two to four days.

Remember to Update Your On-line Profile at the Safe Kids Website

Safe Kids Certification Website – http://cert.safekids.org

Techs can log in to update their profile and enter re-certification information. Please remember to change your bookmark to reflect this new address.

Sources: CPS Express May–September 2011

[back to top]

Last updated: 20 September, 2011

Educational programs of the Texas AgriLife Extension Service are open to all people without regard to race, color, sex, disability, religion, age, or national origin.