Proper carseat installation will save lives

I remember quite well standing up in the front seat of the car while mom was driving. When she slammed on the breaks she'd reach a hand out to prevent us from falling.

When we went on a long trip across the state I remember my brother actually playing in a playpen in the back of the station wagon.

I remember going to Florida in a van and lying on the bed in the back watching TV and videos.

We all survived.

Actually, we were the lucky ones. When I was 18 a law was passed in Michigan requiring anyone under 18 to wear a seat belt, and all adults in the front seat. The fine was $50, and people complained.

When I was a kid we'd fight over the front seat, and of course we'd never buckle. Now, my kids have never been in the front seat, and they won't even allow me to pull out of park until they are buckled and I am buckled.

Just recently Michigan passed a new law that "requires children who are not yet 8 years old or 4' 9" to ride in a properly fitting child safety seat or booster seat."

This may sound like an annoying law, but I almost think it doesn't go far enough. And it is true that car seats and booster seats and 5-point restraints can be annoying for both you and your kids. But they save lives.

Check out the following videos and see for yourself.

Don't let this be your kids:

Forward facing crash test:

Here is a great video which shows the benefits of a rear facing seat:

Here is an even better video, which shows how much better protected a kids brain is when the seat is rear facing. Front facing seats might even cause internal decapitation. Not good.

Here is an important video about the importance of 5-point restraints.:

Don't be a pinhead, buckle your kids in properly. Take the time to do it right. If you don't know how to do it, ask. I'm telling you, there is nothing more annoying for me than when I see that someone, especially my own relatives, has their kids buckled in wrong.

Worse yet, it's sad seeing a mom who's child had died needlessly in a car crash because she didn't' have her child properly secured in the seat.