Irondequoit, N.Y.— A local man has spent the last two years researching and advocating for changes in child car seat policies. Two years ago, Jim Peralta’s then 18-month-old grandson was involved in a car accident-- and his neck was broken. He was front-facing in his car seat.
Currently, federal agencies and medical groups recommend that children 12 months old and younger, or less than twenty pounds, face the rear of the car in their car seats. For children older than 12 months and heavier than twenty pounds, it is recommended that they face the front.
Peralta’s grandson was 18 months and 33 pounds, so his mother faced him forward.
“After the accident, I couldn't understand how this happens,” says Peralta. “We all have accidents, but he was in the car seat the way he was supposed to be and he still broke his neck and I tried to find out why that happened.”
Peralta then started doing his own research. He says that most of the studies he found rear-facing car seats to be the safest for children up to two-years-old.
He found that children at 24 months do not have developed neck muscles and therefore the likelihood of their necks snapping was greater.
Peralta started contacting the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the American Academy of Pediatrics and petitioning them to consider revising their car seat policies.
He also made a website called JoelsJourney.org. He used the site to tell the story of his grandson and also to advocate for car seat safety updates.
“We have to protect our kids. They’re our future. My grandson could have been not walking or he could have not been here at all. I think there's a reason for it and I have to get on my little soapbox and say we got to revisit this law.”
His efforts may have finally paid off. On Monday, the American Academy of Pediatrics announced that their new policy would advise parents to have their toddlers in rear-facing car seats until they’re 2 years old.
According to the AAP, “New research has found children are safer in rear-facing car seats. A 2007 study in the journal Injury Prevention showed that children under age 2 are 75 percent less likely to die or be severely injured in a crash if they are riding rear-facing.”
Peralta says his now four-year-old grandson has almost fully recovered and he hopes the new policy will save other children from going through what his family has had to.
“I told myself watching him in that bed in that ICU in the hospital, I can't have another kid lay in that bed. Nobody should go through that. Nobody.”
