The Idaho Statesman
A 3-year-old Caldwell girl was critically injured in a vehicle crash Tuesday after being struck by the front-seat airbag, police said.
The girl´s father, 42-year-old Donald E. Jones, was driving the 1995 Ford Windstar and could face charges in connection with the crash, including felony child endangerment, Idaho State Police spokesman Rick Ohnsman said.
The child was unrestrained in the front seat of her family´s van when it collided with another vehicle in a residential area at an unsigned intersection just two blocks from her Caldwell home, according to reports.
Although the cars were traveling below 25 mph, the girl was critically injured because she was riding in the front passenger seat of the van and was struck by the airbag, police said.
Investigating officers said she was taken to St. Luke´s Regional Medical Center for treatment. The family has declined to release the girl´s name, her condition or details on her injuries, according to St. Luke´s spokeswoman Beth Toal.
The investigation continued Wednesday, and it is not yet clear why Jones´ daughter was not in her safety seat.
The first thing we´ll do is talk to the prosecutor and ask their opinion, he said.
According to Idaho law, a child younger than 4 or weighing 40 pounds or less is required to be safely buckled in an approved child safety seat. Experts say children should not be placed in the front seat, even in a child seat, until they are 12 or older. The force of an airbag, especially passenger-side airbags, is too great for a child´s body to handle before children are at least 12, experts say.
There was a child safety seat in the back of the family´s van, but the girl was not sitting there, according to reports. Her 6-year-old sister, who was riding in the rear seat and wearing a seat belt, was not injured in the crash, according to reports.
Jones has a broken hand from the crash, and a woman driving in the other car was treated for minor injuries.
Proper restraint use is critical, experts say
An Idaho State Police trooper said children involved in Idaho crashes that had severe or fatal injuries were not properly restrained in every case he has seen.
ISP Trooper Rocky Gripton serves as a crash reconstructionist and has extensive training on child safety seat use.
I´ve seen children that died and wouldn´t have been injured at all if they´d been properly restrained, he said.
In November 1996, 1-year-old Alexandra Greer was killed by an air bag after the car her mother, Rebecca Blackman, was driving struck the rear-end bumper of another car near the intersection of Fairview Avenue and Milwaukee Street. Greer was in a child seat in the front passenger seat of the car, but reports were inconsistent about whether the girl was properly restrained in the seat. The car seat was facing forward.
Blackman did not face criminal charges for the crash that killed her daughter.
Gripton said he rarely sees a child safety seat that is used perfectly.
They aren´t the right size for the child.
The seat belts aren´t tight enough.
They aren´t used according to the owner´s manual directions.
National statistics say 80 percent of child safety seats are used incorrectly, and Gripton said based on his experience that percentage is likely higher in Idaho.
Gripton, who has two children, ages 1 and 3, said parents need to use the safety seats from the beginning so their children are used to them and don´t try to get out.
It just becomes routine, Gripton said. They know that´s where they sit. They´re going to sit in that seat and they don´t know any different.
He said he remembers one head-on crash that caused serious injuries to a man and woman, but their child was correctly placed in a safety seat and uninjured. An officer at the scene remembered doing a prior child safety seat inspection for the family.
Gripton has been a police officer for more than 10 years and has seen hundreds of serious injury and fatal crashes, he said. One Idaho County case involved a father and baby who were killed when the car was struck by a drunken driver who ran a stop sign. Minutes before the crash, the father, who was in the front passenger seat, had taken the crying baby out of the safety seat to give the infant a bottle.
It´s horrific, Gripton said. Some of the stuff I´ve seen, it´s taken me weeks to deal with it and get over it.
A 3-year-old Caldwell girl was critically injured in a vehicle crash Tuesday after being struck by the front-seat airbag, police said.
The girl´s father, 42-year-old Donald E. Jones, was driving the 1995 Ford Windstar and could face charges in connection with the crash, including felony child endangerment, Idaho State Police spokesman Rick Ohnsman said.
The child was unrestrained in the front seat of her family´s van when it collided with another vehicle in a residential area at an unsigned intersection just two blocks from her Caldwell home, according to reports.
Although the cars were traveling below 25 mph, the girl was critically injured because she was riding in the front passenger seat of the van and was struck by the airbag, police said.
Investigating officers said she was taken to St. Luke´s Regional Medical Center for treatment. The family has declined to release the girl´s name, her condition or details on her injuries, according to St. Luke´s spokeswoman Beth Toal.
The investigation continued Wednesday, and it is not yet clear why Jones´ daughter was not in her safety seat.
The first thing we´ll do is talk to the prosecutor and ask their opinion, he said.
According to Idaho law, a child younger than 4 or weighing 40 pounds or less is required to be safely buckled in an approved child safety seat. Experts say children should not be placed in the front seat, even in a child seat, until they are 12 or older. The force of an airbag, especially passenger-side airbags, is too great for a child´s body to handle before children are at least 12, experts say.
There was a child safety seat in the back of the family´s van, but the girl was not sitting there, according to reports. Her 6-year-old sister, who was riding in the rear seat and wearing a seat belt, was not injured in the crash, according to reports.
Jones has a broken hand from the crash, and a woman driving in the other car was treated for minor injuries.
Proper restraint use is critical, experts say
An Idaho State Police trooper said children involved in Idaho crashes that had severe or fatal injuries were not properly restrained in every case he has seen.
ISP Trooper Rocky Gripton serves as a crash reconstructionist and has extensive training on child safety seat use.
I´ve seen children that died and wouldn´t have been injured at all if they´d been properly restrained, he said.
In November 1996, 1-year-old Alexandra Greer was killed by an air bag after the car her mother, Rebecca Blackman, was driving struck the rear-end bumper of another car near the intersection of Fairview Avenue and Milwaukee Street. Greer was in a child seat in the front passenger seat of the car, but reports were inconsistent about whether the girl was properly restrained in the seat. The car seat was facing forward.
Blackman did not face criminal charges for the crash that killed her daughter.
Gripton said he rarely sees a child safety seat that is used perfectly.
They aren´t the right size for the child.
The seat belts aren´t tight enough.
They aren´t used according to the owner´s manual directions.
National statistics say 80 percent of child safety seats are used incorrectly, and Gripton said based on his experience that percentage is likely higher in Idaho.
Gripton, who has two children, ages 1 and 3, said parents need to use the safety seats from the beginning so their children are used to them and don´t try to get out.
It just becomes routine, Gripton said. They know that´s where they sit. They´re going to sit in that seat and they don´t know any different.
He said he remembers one head-on crash that caused serious injuries to a man and woman, but their child was correctly placed in a safety seat and uninjured. An officer at the scene remembered doing a prior child safety seat inspection for the family.
Gripton has been a police officer for more than 10 years and has seen hundreds of serious injury and fatal crashes, he said. One Idaho County case involved a father and baby who were killed when the car was struck by a drunken driver who ran a stop sign. Minutes before the crash, the father, who was in the front passenger seat, had taken the crying baby out of the safety seat to give the infant a bottle.
It´s horrific, Gripton said. Some of the stuff I´ve seen, it´s taken me weeks to deal with it and get over it.
What a shame, and she really should have never been in the front seat in the first place. 
Fortunately, most of her friends' parents have the same idea, so I don't have to deal with peer pressure too much.
