Buckling Up Tweens, 8 – 12 years old
Tweens are developing habits that they will carry into their teen and adult years. Yet, they are needlessly at risk when riding in motor vehicles according to a 2006 study by the Automotive Coalition for Traffic Safety.
Did you know more than one tween passenger is killed in a motor vehicle crash every day (414 in 2004)? And three times as many tweens are injured (1,267 in 2004). Source: Fatality Analysis Reporting System
One major reason appears all too simple. Half of those who died were not wearing a seat belt and one third were sitting in the front seat. These tweens died not just because they got into crashes, they died because of where and how they were riding.
Tweens are in a time of transition — casting aside fantasy for reality — and paying more attention to peer pressure. One third of teens surveyed believed the back seat is safer, yet regularly still sit in front. Research shows that children are 40% more likely to be injured in the front seat than if they had been seated in back. Source: Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
So how do we keep tweens safely buckled in the back seat?
Here are some tips for parents:
- Reduce the peer pressure for tweens to sit in front, offer them benefits instead for buckling up in the back seat.
- Buckle up yourself! Tweens still think of their parents as role models. Research shows that when parents are restrained, their children are more likely to be as well.
Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration - Tell them it’s the law. Seat belts are mandatory by law and tweens in Washington are required to ride in the back seat until age 13 where it is practical to do so. Let tweens know that seat belt use isn’t an option, it’s the law.
- Let your tween choose the radio station. Tweens said being in control of the radio is a major benefit of the front seat. Make a deal with your tween: if he sits buckled in the back, he can choose the station.
- Give your tween something to do in the back seat. Electronic games and iPods can be stored in a back seat. Make games in the front seat off limits.
- Let tweens “own” their space in the back seat. Tweens are eager to claim their own space. Let them set up places to keep things in a back seat and decorate their area so that’s the first place they want to go.
Caution: be sure to store items that can become projectiles in a crash.
For more information visit www.tweensafety.org.
