Train Crash Shows Importance of Car Seats

If you've heard the story of the minivan that was hit by a freight train this May, you'll be glad to know that while the two men injured in the crash are still in the hospital, they're both improving. The two men were seriously injured while trying to rescue the minivan's sole occupant, a 23-month-old boy, when the 94-car freight train hit the vehicle, which was caught on the train tracks in heavy traffic. The toddler, who was still strapped securely into a Britax Roundabout convertible car seat when the train struck the minivan and threw it off the tracks, was entirely uninjured by the incident. "He doesn't even have a bruise or scratch," his mother told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal. The police officer who pulled the child's mother from the minivan, along with the child's father, who had been driving a nearby vehicle but ran to help his wife and son, were the only people injured in the crash.

The little boy's father had studied up on car seats after the birth of the couple's first child six years ago, making sure he knew how to install the car seats properly and even contacting their vehicle manufacturers to have top tether anchors retrofitted. Given the severity of the crash, without a properly installed and used car seat, the outcome could have been quite different. You don't have to learn everything about car seats on your own, though. Finding a car seat inspection station is a great place to start.

• After Train Crash, Mother Thankful for Focus On Safety Seats