Often it isn’t until we hear about the road death toll over any given holiday period that we’re reminded just how vulnerable we are on our roads. But as parents, this is something we need to be aware of all the time. Car accidents are one of the leading causes of death in babies and children, plus a major cause of permanent brain damage, epilepsy and spinal cord injury.
Did you know that an extreme halt, when the car is travelling at a speed of around 60km an hour, can have the same crushing impact on the baby’s brain and body as a fall from a three story building?
Babies are incredibly vulnerable in car accidents. “An infant’s centre of gravity is higher than an adult’s, making them ‘top-heavy’,” says Aliné Hall, clinical quality specialist: mother and child for Mediclinic Southern Africa. “Therefore, an unrestrained infant can be flung head first like
