Alive and smiling

Alanny Oaks is accustomed to being in a car safety seat, thanks to her mother's patient training.

Last Tuesday, that paid off.

Alanny was a passenger in a truck involved in a head-on collision about 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 24.

She is alive and smiling to tell about it because she was buckled into a five-point safety harness in a weight-appropriate car seat.

"If she hadn't been in a car seat, or had been in the wrong seat, this could have been a fatality," Arkansas State Trooper Jana Cordes said.

"The state trooper told me 'your daughter is extremely lucky to be alive. If she had been in the wrong car seat, she would not be alive,'" said Alanny's mother, Mary Oaks.

Alanny, 4, is small for her size -- just 22 pounds -- because of a medical condition. She has spinal muscular atrophy. She is the youngest of Mary and A.J. Oaks' three children. Jadin is 6, Nataly is 5. All sit in age- and weight-appropriate car seats when in a vehicle.

"We travel a lot," Mary said, noting that she knows it is easier to put a child in a booster seat or not in a car seat at all -- but she knows the importance of using the appropriate seat for a child's weight.

"Parents need to know the importance of keeping their child in the (correct) car seat," she said. "It's very important. You are the parent. By the end of the day, it's your decision.

"It's really important for any parent to not let their kids make wrong decisions."

Mary said she uses diversion and rewards when the children are restless in their car seats, including giving them a toy, coloring with them and or singing with them. "I make it where she wants to be there."

Tuesday, Feb. 24, Alanny got sick at school and her grandmother, Maria Molina, picked her up from the Benton County Sunshine School. On her way back home to Pea Ridge, traveling north on Arkansas Highway 94, Molina faced a black Chevrolet Traverse crossing her lane of traffic. She couldn't avoid the collision.

The Chevrolet ended up on its roof down a ravine, the driver trapped inside. Molina's vehicle sustained the majority of damage to the front right, caving in the hood and fender and knocking off the wheel.

"I had called Mom on my break," Mary said, "to check on her and Alanny. She didn't answer.

"As I hung up, my dad calls and says 'Don't panic. Go to Mercy ER.' I asked what happened, but he didn't want to tell me. I panicked. My boss drove me to the hospital."

"I beat the ambulance there, but then, when I saw my husband running from the parking lot, and the ambulance carrying my mother and daughter arrived -- there was blood everywhere," Mary recalled. Alanny had a cut on her forehead that resulted in 17 stitches, three layers deep, Mary said.

The trooper speculated that glass from the shattered windows cut Alanny's forehead.

"But, she (Alanny) was talking with the paramedics. It's like she had no trauma of the accident because they took care of her so well. They gave her a teddy bear. They made that situation so much easier. She was calm," she said.

"It was wonderful that they (the emergency personnel) could still be professional and caring!" Mary said.

The Oaks threw away the car seat that was involved in the wreck and are getting a new one.

That was a good decision, according to Sgt. Clela Eggrebrecht, one of four police officers on the Pea Ridge Police Department who is a national child passenger safety certified technician. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recommends that child safety seats be replaced following a moderate or severe crash in order to ensure a continued high level of crash protection for child passengers.

Car seats keep the child strapped in securely, so they do not have a chance to bounce around, Eggrebrecht explained. "It makes a huge difference! If the car seat is not put in correctly, the car seat is not stable, so it moves around. If it's not right for child, they can get hurt worse than if in a proper car seat."

Last summer, Pea Ridge Police had a child car seat event in which the technicians inspected, replaced and gave away new car seats. They trained parents on proper installation and showed how to buckle the children in.

Eggrebrecht said police officers are available to assist if a parent has questions about the safety of their car seat and how to use it.

She recommends not using old or expired car seats and to never use a seat that has been involved in a collision.

"Do not buy a car seat at a yard sale. You don't know where it's come from or if it's been in a wreck. Car seats can be expensive, but your child's life is worth more than any amount of money," she said, adding that some of the less expensive ($30-$40) seats are just as safe as the more expensive ones. She said the main consideration is using the appropriate seat for the child's weight.

Eggrebrecht, who is a mother and grandmother, said she knows how difficult it can be to put a car seat in correctly, but strongly recommends parents learn how. "It's better to be safe than sorry."

She said to never take a child out in a vehicle not strapped into a car seat and said the handle on infant "basket-type" seats must be laid back when used as a car seat.

"Anyone under the age of 15 is considered a child in this matter and must be in a restraint," she added, saying fines for the driver are greater for not having a child restrained than for not wearing a seat belt.

"All infants up to the age of 1 are to be in rear-facing car seat, preferable in the middle of the back seat. I recommend keeping them rear facing until 2," she said.

"Make it a game. Make it an adventure," Eggrebrecht advises parents. "Most kids I've seen don't really throw a fit about a car seat until school age. My 5-year-old granddaughter is still in a five-point harness."

"It might take a little longer to put that car seat in there and put it in correctly," she said, "but it's well worth it."