A new report by Safe Kids Worldwide finds that one in four parents has driven without properly securing their child in the car.
This means the child didn’t use a seatbelt, car seat or booster seat.
It’s a statistic that has safety experts worried. The study found that parents who are younger, have higher incomes and higher levels of education were the worst offenders. This group was most likely to let their kids ride unbuckled during drives.
The parents who admitted to not buckling in their kids offered several excuses. They said they were “lax” on using seatbelts when they weren’t driving far, when they were in a rush, while traveling through the night or when they were “rewarding” a child.
Car seats and booster seats should be used for children during the first several years of their lives. Safety experts say they should be used until a child is about 4 feet 9 inches tall and weighs between 80 and 100 pounds.