I must apologize for not posting too much these days, I have so much I want to write about.
Thinking of it I should really try putting up more drafts when I have time, and then have them publish then and then! hehe
It’s just the summer time isn’t it? We don’t have time to sit much inside in this nice warm weather, but I still feel bad for not posting in a while.
Buuut..what can you do when the sun is shining and your melting away in 30C?
As you all (who follow me anyway hehe) know, I went to the Maxi Cosi iSize event.
It was FUN. I learned a great deal, had a nice chat to people and I got a sneak peak on iSize. Super exited!
So what is iSize and what does it mean?
The following pictures and information is taken from the i-Size brochure I was given at the meeting: (Text in bold are my own.)
iSize is a new legislation that increases the safety level of children in cars and will extend rearward facing travel and promote the use of IsoFix as a new European standard. It wad enforced on 9th July 2013, while the current standard ECE R44/04 will remain in effect for all other child car seats until 2018.
This legislation makes rearward facing travelling mandatory up to 15 months old for i-Size products. The standard ensures a better protection at higher forces in the case of frontal and side collisions and a better protecttion of head and neck. i-Size also moves to a length classification for choosing the right car seat instead of weight.
i-Size also promotes IsoFix, which has less chance of being incorrectly used than belted car seats.
Why do we need new rules?
Child safety has been evolving over time. The number of child fatalities has decreased but car accidents are still the leading cause of child deaths.
Many parents move their baby to the next stage car seat at around 9 months because either their child is too heavy to carry in a group 0+ car seat or the baby’s feet stick out of the seat shell. Also, the current law accepts 9kg for group 1, but this is not the safest way of travelling!
The head and neck are the most vulnerable during a crash.
A child’s spine does not begin to fuse until approx 3 years of age, and is not done fusing until approx 6 years old, one of the main reasons to RF as long as possible. The head in proportion to the body is quite heavy and large, accounting for 25% of their body weight, while an adult’s head only takes up 6%.
The developmental rate of the skeleton is the same in any child no matter how heavy or tall they are, meaning your one year old may look 2 years old or be the size of a two year old, but inside, he’s skeletal build is no where near.
The photo shows the vertebrae of a one year-old on the left, and those of a six year-old on the right. In a one year-old each vertebra consists of three pieces of bone which are connected by cartilage.
The picture on the left shows where in the body these bones are located.
The bones in the neck of a small child are not developed enough to protect the spinal cord. When they are involved in a car crash in a forward facing car seat, the weight of the head combined with the immature skeleton, can cause the spinal cord to stretch up to two inches. If it stretches just half an inch it will snap. This is known as internal decapitation and causes paralysis or death.
Phto and text credit: http://www.rearfacingtoddlers.com
In Conclution…
It is safer to travel rearward facing longer and to use IsoFix (make no mistake, belted is just as safe as long as it is correctly installed, but to make things easier i-Size has, as mentioned, decided to focus on IsoFix as this is simpler) Maxi – Cosi’s involvement on the i-Size legislation will improve the compatibility between car seats and cars with the support leg. It will be supporting all regulating organisations such as GRSP and CLEPA. Plus, Maxi-Cosi have been involved in measuring and defining new sizing classifications (3D child project).
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What do the numbers say?
People hate the numbers. How many times haven’t you heard the line; “Back in the day…” or “When I was young..” “…and I’m FINE!”?
I imagine that if more people knew the actual numbers maybe they wouldn’t use these phrases. Fact of the matter is that we didn’t know as much then as we do know, or…we did some places (see Sweden), but the rest of the world I imagine had a hard time thinking that just ‘Søta Bror’ would know more then a fair share of other excellent researchers right?
Well, let me show you the numbers dated from 1999 to 2008:
Excuse the small finger prints. xD I have a small person who grabbed it hehe.
Another important thing, and one of the reasons why i-Size is choosing to focus on IsoFix is as I stated previously, that it’s simpler to install. Though it ofc. happens that they are wrongly installed! BUT it IS simpler.
Have a look at this cake that shows fatalities related to the car seat use: (this is not based on RF, but car seat use in general):
The numbers are quite shocking aren’t they?
As we can see, the head and neck have the highest percentage of injury in a frontal collision.
We can also see that in a side impact collision, the head injury is still on the highest percentage followed by chest.
I am therefore very glad the new i-Size makes side impact testing mandatory!
Some car seats are in fact side impact tested, but this is not something covered in ECE R44/04 ‘s testing to get approved.
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I have now tried to cover everything on i-Size, but if you have any more questions please don’t hesitate to write it in a comment below, or on my face book page –> https://www.facebook.com/ErfMission if you like this blog, I would love for you to hit the “Like” button on the page.
And as a quick “sum it up” :
Have a wonderful weekend and I shall see you all later!
Therese has completed the ‘Advanced Child Car Seat Training Course’ at TRL (Transport Research Lab) and is a CPD accredited car seat expert. She blogs about in-car safety, car seats, tips, reviews, giveaways and advice. She’s a mum on a mission to change the law and raise awareness. She is also a breastfeeding advocate and gentle parenting promoter who loves cloth nappies, baby-wearing, BLW and co-sleeping/bed-sharing.