Mum Stresses Importance of Keeping Kids Rear-Facing After Car Accident

A mum has taken to Facebook to show the difference that having your child sitting in a rear-facing seat can have in the case of an accident. Angela Brown from Australia was recently travelling home from a dentist appointment when her SUV slammed into a tree head on. The vehicle flipped onto its roof and a tree landed on top of it, trapping her and her two daughters in the car. Her one-year-old was rear-facing at the time of the incident and had no visible injuries while her front-facing two-year-old suffered a large laceration on her head. It was later revealed that her injuries were worse than first thought. Angela explains in the post that both of her daughters were "restrained properly" but one suffered life-threatening injuries. She firmly believes that the outcome of the accident is proof that keeping children rear-facing for as long as possible is important. The mum shared a number of snaps of her toddler along with the full details of her story. It is not clear when, or if, she will be fully recovered. You can see it in full below: The post reads:

“PROOF REAR FACING FOR AS LONG AS POSSIBLE IS IMPORTANT!! I write this sitting next to my nearly 2 year old (she is two tomorrow) in her hospital bed finally asleep after yet another rough day. And my almost one year old asleep in her pram at Westmead Children's hospital. On the 26th February my happy normal world shattered and I woke up to my new nightmare life. Travelling home from a dentist appointment in the middle of the day in Rural NSW our SUV slammed into a tree head on at 100kms p/hr. The impact caused our car to flip forward over its bonnet and onto its roof. At the same time the large tree snapped and landed on top of the car trapping us in it. When I came to we were upside down in our car Miss 1 and Miss 2 were screaming. We turned to see miss 2 had quite a large laceration on her forehead. She was forward facing at the time of the crash. The aircon control vent above had flown off and hit her in the head. Miss 1 was rearward facing with no visible injuries. Me and Miss 2 were picked up by Careflight from the crash sight and flown to Westmead. Where our nightmare just got worse. They had discovered she had broken her c2 c3 and tore all her ligaments in her c1. She was one of the youngest to be fitted with a Halo Brace the doctor told us that most children with her injury don't normally make it. Miss 1 and her dad went via ambulance to another hospital. Miss 1 had no injuries just a small bruise on her shoulder. So as you can see two children in the same car crash restrained properly one with life threatening injuries and the other with non. I was always unsure about when turning my babies around but after our crash and the hard evidence we are presented with I will forever rearward face my babies as long as I possibly can. Don't make the same mistake as I did. It could cost you your babies life. So far we have been treating her injury for 3mths with no idea of when she will be fully recovered.”

Here is a table from the Road Safety Authority which includes recommendations for car seats: There is also a wide range of extended rear-facing seats which can be used for children up to the age of 7, available from retailers including Mothercare, Smyths and Halfords.