Center for Childhood Safety will host a free community car seat check event at Broadway Hyundai on Military Avenue in Green Bay this Saturday, March 4th from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Nationally certified child passenger safety technicians, who’ve completed coursework as part of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, will work with parents and caregivers to identify and correct potential car seat installation problems, while giving hands-on education on safety best practices.
“Installing a car seat should be simple, but with 300 makes and models of car seats on the market and more than 100 different seat belt configurations, installing a seat correctly can be a challenge,” says Kimberly Hess, Executive Director, Center for Childhood Safety. “This program is designed not only as a check, but as a way to instruct any caregiver in proper car seat installation and usage.”
Motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of death for children in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control, in the United States during 2014, 602 children ages 12 years and younger died as occupants in motor vehicle crashes, and more than 121,350 were injured. Many of those deaths are preventable, especially when considering that as many as 49% of rear-facing infant car seats, 61% of forward facing car seats, and 20% of booster seats are installed incorrectly or misused, placing children at greater risk of serious injury or death.
For more information on the car seat check or for general childhood safety information, please call the Center for Childhood Safety at (920) 272-0110 or visit www.ccsgb.org. The center’s mission aims to eliminate all preventable childhood injuries (accidents) that lead to disabilities and death through improved education and public awareness. The Center for Childhood Safety is Northeast Wisconsin’s leading resource for injury prevention.