Rear facing car seats and Joels Journey
Last year I got to know Jim, the grandfather of Joel over at Joels Journey (have a look at the powerful video at the bottom). Joel was a strong boy at 18 months and 35 lbs when he was in a frontal collision at moderate speed. Joel was sitting in a forward facing seat and he was strapped in nice and tight. Unfortunately, the frontal collision almost ripped the spine off Joel who tragically broke his neck.
This is why Jim contacted me, Joel was lucky and survived his broken neck but faced many months in the hospital. When Joel left the hospital he needed the safest possible rear facing car seat and since he was above 35 lbs he would be forced to sit forward facing in a US seat. Any minor fender bender could have again ripped Joels spine so this was not an option. A rear facing 55 lbs Britax Multi Tech was immediately shipped over by CarSeat.se to keep Joel safe. After many months in the hospital Joel left in his new RF seat and will now be riding rear facing for a very long time.
What would have happened if Joel sat in a rear facing seat? Nothing. Joel would have walked away without a bruise. It’s very rare for a child to die or become injured in a rear facing seat. The protection in any accident is amazing.
Grandfather Jim was shocked over Joel’s injuries considering he was sitting forward facing as most other kids do and the collision was at moderate speed. After lots of research Jim was surprised, and also very angry, after finding out Joel should have been sitting rear facing. He went on a media offensive after finding out rear facing kids are a stunning 500% safer than forward facing children. Jim’s main goal was to question why the information in US regarding rear facing is so poor and also to make more parents aware of the huge safety benefits. He has o far done great job!
The recommendation of “rear facing to 12 months and 20 lbs” is hopelessly outdated. The new recommendation, which is communicated in a weak way, is “it’s safer for a child to remain rear facing until age 2” . Hardly a strong recommendation which is why most parents don’t pay attention. The Swedes, who invented rear facing car seats in the 1960’s have different approach. The strong recommendation to parents is to keep children rear facing until at least age 4. This recommendation has been in effect for many years and is thankfully why fatalities are injuries for young kids are extremely low.
Jim created videos, blog posts, forum posts, flyers, talked to reporters, got interviewed on TV, contacted NHTSA, and spoke to his congresswoman among other things. Jim was determined to find answers over why the rear facing information in US is so weak considering there has been overwhelming peer reviewed research and evidence for a large number of years. Answers so far have been vague and slow but Jim is pushing hard to help other parents.
Jim has become a great resource for the rear facing community and is doing lots of great work to educate parents about the huge benefits of rear facing. Jim’s message is powerful since it comes from the heart. His video of Joel and the rear facing message is powerful and parents pay attention. Latest update of Joel, only a few days ago, is more surgery needed on nerves in his right arm. Joel was very fortunate and it looks like he will thankfully regain almost complete movement of his arm.
Please have a look at the video from Joel’s Journey below:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8gU9zzCGA8[/youtube]