Keeping Shopping Carts Safe for Children

Most shopping cart injuries occur when children aren’t strapped in properly, or when they aren’t sitting down. Virtually all shopping carts nowadays have child seats just behind the handle of the cart, so children are firmly seated throughout the duration of their ride through the store and the parking lot. In addition, many carts also have seat belts so children can be even more firmly secured to the cart.

However, there are still thousands of children injured each year due to shopping-cart related mishaps. Many shopping carts are designed with a high center of gravity, which makes it easier for shoppers to place items in the cart. But such a design also makes a cart more prone to tipping over, especially when a child moves around in the cart, even if the child is properly placed in the seat. A fall onto the hard floor of a grocery store can result in injuries to the head and neck, and fractures are also common.

According to Dr. Gary Smith, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy in Columbus, OH, many injuries involve concussions and many are life-threatening. Smith is the chairman of a commission that has written a new policy suggesting that better designs and stricter government regulations are needed. Smith, an emergency room physician at Children’s Hospital in Columbus, said that a new policy is needed to make parents aware of the dangers since shopping-cart injuries can be very serious.

"Because of that, and because we don’t have a standard that adequately addresses the major mechanisms of injury," said Smith, "the best we can do is to caution parents that these injuries are very real, they’re very frequent, and if you have a possible alternative" to shopping carts, people should use it. Alternatives to standard shopping carts include strollers, wagons, and carts with plastic mini-cars or trucks attached to the front, which allow children to be placed much closer to the ground, lowering their center of gravity.

The policy suggested by the Center for Injury Research and Policy calls for children to not be left unattended or allowed to stand up in shopping carts, and not to be allowed to ride in the main grocery basket of the cart or on the outside. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a similar safety alert in May. Smith said that injury experts have been aware of the problem for decades, but no industry standard was adopted until just two years ago. The standard is voluntary, doesn’t require any specific designs, and doesn’t address the criteria for cart stability. The CPSC is currently working with Congress to pursue voluntary standards before being forced to enact mandatory regulations.