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A Mother Urges All Parents To Use Rear-Facing Car Seats After It Saved Her Son's Life

Lisa McLoughlin

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A Mother Urges All Parents To Use Rear-Facing Car Seats After It Saved Her Son's Life

Featured Image Credit: Caters

A mum has urged parents to use rear-facing car seats for their children, after her decision to do so saved her son's life in a car crash.

Brisbane-based Tathra Di Liberto explained that she regularly faced criticism from her friends for positioning her son Axton's child seat to face the rear of the car.

Yet, the mother-of-one revealed that keeping the 23-month-old's rear facing car seat saved his life after the tot along with her brother and mother were involved in a terrifying head-on collision with another car less than two miles from their house.

Tathra's son Axton. Credit: Caters
Tathra's son Axton. Credit: Caters
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Credit: Caters
Credit: Caters

The 35-year-old said: "My parents love to have Axton stay with them over the weekend every so often, so they can spend some time together with their grandson.

"I'd dropped him off at their house on the Friday afternoon. Mum and I were actually discussing the rear-facing seat, as they were going to put it in their car."

Adding: "Mum suggested to just turn him to the front, but I said not to, and helped her adjust it. And thank god we did. I got a phone call from my brother after 5pm the next day who told me that they'd all been in a car accident. I felt sick to my stomach.

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"They'd not even got two miles from the house when it happened. They were just going to grab some dinner together. He said everyone was okay, but that him and mum were hurt. But luckily, Axton didn't have a scratch on him."

Credit: Caters
Credit: Caters
Tathra with her mother Bronwyn. Credit: Caters
Tathra with her mother Bronwyn. Credit: Caters

While Axton escaped injury, Tathra's mum and brother were both hurt in the crash, with Bailey, 21, suffering severe whiplash and seatbelt bruising while Bronwyn, 55, had a tendon completely torn off the bone in her knee.

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"Thankfully, Axton is fine, and Mum told me that the paramedics, police and firefighters all told her the rear-facing car seat saved his life," Tathra said. "Without it, he could have suffered internal decapitation, neck injuries or a broken spine. He could have been killed or paralysed for life."

After the terrifying incident, Tathra decided to shared her experience to encourage other parents to position their children's car seats so they're facing towards the back of the car.

Axton with uncle Bailey, who was also involved in the crash. Credit: Caters
Axton with uncle Bailey, who was also involved in the crash. Credit: Caters

Currently in the UK, the law states that children over 15 months old can use a front-facing seat. Although in Australia, where Tathra and her family reside, laws say that kids aged six-months up can be place in front-facing car seat.

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While in the US guidelines recommend children in rear-facing car seats until they are two-years-old.

Considering her family's terrifying crash, Tathra is now campaigning for laws to be changed so children are required to sit in rear-facing car seats until the age of two.

She said: "I'm just so grateful. I keep thinking about the 'what if?' scenarios, and it makes me feel sick.

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"I think poor Axton is a bit traumatised from it though, because he cries every time as soon as I put him into the car seat now. He never did that before."

Topics: Life News, Life

Lisa McLoughlin
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