In recent months, Aurora police have hosted several car seat safety checks around town. Each time, police are confronted with a startling truth: most car seats are improperly installed.
“I’d say the vast majority of them aren’t installed properly,” said Aurora police Sgt. Bill Revelle of the department’s traffic section.
And Aurora police aren’t alone.
Last fall, University of Colorado Hospital officials said during regular safety checks of parents’ car seats at the campus, about 93 percent of the safety devices are installed improperly. That means seats where the straps aren’t tight, the seat faces the wrong direction or it isn’t buckled in at all.
Colorado unveiled a new law last year requiring car seats for all children 8 years old and younger, but it gave parents a one-year grace period to learn about the law. The grace period ended Aug. 1.
Violations carry an $82 fine and are a primary offense, meaning unlike a seat belt violation, if an officer sees an unrestrained child in a car, they pull the vehicle over without seeing another violation.
There are several websites that can point parents to officials who will check their car seat’s installation free of charge. The locators can be found at the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration’s website, NHTSA.gov, and at carseatscolorado.com.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, child safety seats reduce the risk of death in car crashes by 71 percent for infants and 53 percent for toddlers. And booster seats for children ages 4 to 7 reduce injury risk by 59 percent compared to seat belts alone.
Revelle said the department’s next car seat safety check is scheduled for April 22 at Southlands. The event is set to run from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
While the events are designed to help parents who have car seats install them properly, Revelle said the department can also help parents who don’t have a carseat get one.
For more information or to schedule a carseat check, call 303-739-6423.
Tips for properly installing a child safety seat:
Make sure the seat is strapped down tightly. When strapped properly, the seat will not move more than one inch in any direction if you tug on it.
Pull the seat belt until the belt’s locking mechanism engages.
When the child is strapped in, make sure the straps around their shoulders are snug. If you can slide more than two fingers between the strap and the child, the strap is not tight enough.
Read manufacturer’s instruction’s carefully.
Keep the child seat facing toward the rear of the vehicle for as long as possible. Rear-facing seats are safer than forward-facing seats.
Make sure the child is in the correct-sized seat. Seats that are too big or too small for a child can be unsafe.
Source: Rural/Metro Ambulance