Who
An 8-month-old infant in Texarkana, Arkansas, survived a car crash at approximately 7 PM on Friday, November 25th, close to mile marker 3 in the eastbound lanes of I-30. She was mildly injured with a forehead scratch. Four other occupants were in the vehicle, which appears to be a 6th-gen Nissan Sentra, and none received serious injuries.
The Nissan was clipped by an 18-wheeler, which led to the crash. The driver of the 18-wheeler was cited for unsafe and improper lane changes.
How
Per news reports, the child was thrown from the vehicle during the crash and landed 25 feet away inside a drain in the median of the highway. She was located 3 feet beneath the drainage grate, which itself was covered with hay. Family members had begun to search from the child after the crash and enlisted the help of a Good Samaritan who had arrived on the scene after the collision, as well as first responders who also arrived. The baby was reportedly sitting upright in the drain and waiting for help. She was pulled out through the grate by 3 first responders and apparently had little more than a forehead scratch.
Police later confirmed that the child’s car seat, which first responders located outside the vehicle, had not been installed properly within the vehicle and that the child had additionally not been restrained properly within the vehicle.
Why
This is an unfathomably fortunate ending to what could have easily been a tragedy. I won’t venture to explain how the child escaped unharmed from being thrown from a vehicle and through a grate 25 feet away, and will limit my analysis to the parts of the story that could have been prevented. The circumstances of the initial collision are unclear, but it appears that poor maneuvering by an 18-wheeler led to the first impact. Given the massive weight discrepancies between 18-wheelers (which can weigh up to 80,000 pounds, or 40 tons), and passenger vehicles (which typically weigh between 2,000 and 5,000 pounds, or 1-2.5 tons), it’s no surprise that even a minor error by the driver of the heavy truck led to such large consequences experienced by the occupants of the normally-sized vehicle. This kind of error will unfortunately remain a risk on our roads until we have automated trucks. That day is coming, but we’re not there yet.
However, the factors within the control of the parties involved had to do with the improperly installed car seat and the improperly restrained child within the seat were. These errors, while unfortunate, are also representative of the typical state of children in this country who travel in personal vehicles. I’ve written before about how the majority of car seats in this country aren’t installed properly (typically they’re not installed tightly enough), and how the majority of children in this country aren’t installed properly within their car seats (again, they’re typically not installed tightly enough). This story provided an example of what’s at risk when children aren’t properly restrained, whether within their car seats or within their vehicles.
What to do
Please take the time to make sure your car seats are correctly installed and that your children are safely harnessed within their car seats each time you drive. The safest vehicles on the road won’t do much for your children if they fly out of them in a collision due to not being installed correctly in their seats, or due to their seats not being installed correctly in your vehicles.
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