Program emphasizes car-seat safety

So, you make sure to obey the law and try to ensure your child’s safety by strapping him or her into a car seat every time you travel.
Consider this information from the American Academy of Pediatrics:
“Nationally, the misuse rate for a car seat is 74 to 90 percent,” Kristen Urso said. “That could be, it’s the wrong seat for the child. It’s installed incorrectly, or the child is in the seat incorrectly.”

Harry Funk / The Almanac
Trainee Christy Neltner, left, and instructor Mandy Cousins review safety information.
The North Strabane Township resident, southwest regional community educator for the academy’s Traffic Injury Prevention Project, was among the instructors for a National Child Passenger Safety Certification Training Program session held at Peters Township Fire Department. Certification is by Safe Kids Worldwide, a nonprofit organization working to prevent childhood injury.
“The fourth day of our class is always a community car seat check, and that’s for the new students to get actual practice with families in real-life scenarios,” Urso said about the training sessions’ culminating event on Dec. 13. “We help with the installation, but we’re moving away from an installation service. We’re trying to provide education so that parents feel empowered to do this themselves.”
She and other certified instructors with PA TECHS -Team Educators for Child Safety, a nonprofit coalition including first responders and medical personnel – conducted the training and oversaw the safety check.
“We review with the family as far as, are they the original owner? Do they know the history of the seat? We don’t want it to have been in a crash,” she explained. “We want all the labels and the parts to be there. We want to check our recall list to make sure the car seat’s not expired or doesn’t have a major recall. Most car seats last about six years and then need to be replaced.”

Harry Funk / The Almanac
Reviewing safety information are, from left, Mateo Herrera, Shawn Eigenbrode and Brian Grimes. Eigenbrode is a Pittsburgh paramedic, and Herrera and Grimes are Pennsylvania State Police troopers.
Community members receive five basic tips to help ensure children’s safety with regard to seats: selection, direction they face, location within the vehicle, proper installation and proper harnessing.
Technicians also review applicable laws, such as Pennsylvania’s mandate that seats face the rear of a vehicle until a child reaches age 2.
“But at the American Academy of Pediatrics, we go beyond that and say, ‘Keep them rear-facing as long as possible. It’s the safest form of travel for their tiny bodies,'” Urso said.
Also according to state law, children must ride in booster seats that are appropriate for their height and weight until they are 8 years old or 4 feet, 9 inches tall.
“Those are primary laws,” Urso explained for the edification of adults who transport youngsters, “so they can be pulled over simply for not having the child in the correct seat or in a seat, at all.”
She said that advancements in in the industry also are addressed:
“Car seats are changing every couple of years, getting better technology, better fabric design, more flame-retardant. We have all these different variables going into the design of seats now.”
The overall goal is to impart as much knowledge as possible.
“Yes, parents and caregivers have the ultimate say of how they want that seat installed and how they want their child to face,” Urso said. “But we, as technicians, have to provide them with that standard law, the best practice, and give them the choice once they’re well-informed of what their options are.”
For more information, visit pakidstravelsafe.org/car-seats and patechs.com.

Source: Pennsylvania Department of Transportation