Point Pleasant Police To Hold Free Child Safety Seat Checks

POINT PLEASANT, NJ - Do you know if your child's car seat is safe?

If not, come to the parking lot at the Point Pleasant police department's parking lot on Saturday, Sept. 23, at 9 a.m. and find out.

A certified child passenger safety technician will be doing free inspections and offering free educational materials, Capt. Robert Lokerson said.

“Car seats, booster seats, and seat belts are often used incorrectly,” Lokerson said. “Every 33 seconds in 2015, one child under 13 was involved in a crash. No parent wants to ever get it wrong when it comes to a child’s safety. That’s why we’re hosting this car seat check event on National Seat Check Saturday. Parents – don’t think you know, know you know that your kids are secure in their car seats and are in the right seats for their ages and sizes.”

The event is part of National Seat Check Saturday. Parents and caregivers can learn how to pick the right car seats for their children, how to install them and use them correctly. Seats should be registered with the manufacturer in case of a recall, he said.

Data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows that nearly two out of three car seats are misused.

“More than one-third of children 12 and younger who died in crashes in 2015 while riding in cars, pickups, vans, and SUVs were unbuckled," Lokerson said. "Many of those kids could have survived if they had been buckled up.”

National Seat Check Saturday is part of Child Passenger Safety Week, which runs from September 17-23, 2017.

NHTSA recommends keeping children rear-facing as long as possible, up to the top height or weight allowed by their particular seats. Once a child outgrows the rear-facing car seat, he or she is ready to travel in a forward-facing car seat with a harness and tether. After outgrowing the forward-facing car seat, a child should ride in a booster seat until tall enough to fit in a seat belt properly. The safest place for all kids under 13 is in the back seat.

Photo: Patch file photo.