Children and teenagers wearing lap belts in cars are at "excessive risk" of spinal and abdominal injury in road traffic accidents according to a recent report in the Irish Medical Journal.
"Despite recent innovation, the continued use of the lap belt and poorly fitting three point seat belts in private automobiles, exposes children to an excessive risk of skeletal and visceral injury" said author Mr Alan J Walsh, a registrar in orthopaedic surgery at the Mater's National Spinal Injuries Unit.
"The belts are supposed to restrain you at your pelvis but in young children and teenagers it restrains them in their abdomen," said Mr Walsh.
"This can result in their intestines being perforated and also cause spinal injuries," he added. Spinal fractures and "significant abdominal trauma" resulting from wearing a two-point lap belt, usually in the centre of the back-seat, during a car crash is a well known phenomenon but is "still occurring" he reported.
His report looked at a 15-year-old girl admitted to the Mater spinal injuries unit after she sustained a lumbar spinal injury in a 30 m.p.h. head-on collision between two cars. She was a passenger in the centre rear seat and was wearing a lap-belt. Tests revealed a "classical" fracture to her spine.
One in ten children involved in a road traffic accident while wearing a lap belt will sustain a spinal fracture. The fracture is caused by the force of the torso going forward over the lap belt which causes the vertebrae behind to separate or fracture.
Mr Walsh is now calling for improvements in the design and use of suitable restraints for children travelling in cars. "We need to emphasise the need to develop safer seat belt designs for juvenile car passengers," he said.