By Jennifer Solis
Correspondent
—
WEST NEWBURY — As part of Child Passenger Safety Week next month, the West Newbury Police Department is offering a program that could save a child's life.
Police Chief Lisa Holmes is urging parents and caregivers to attend National Seat Check Saturday on Sept. 25 to make sure their child's car seat is safe and properly installed. An abundance of research conclusively supports the use of child restraints in cars as a way to avoid preventable tragedies, Holmes stressed.
The Police Department will have certified technicians available to provide free hands-on child safety seat inspections and advice from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Public Safety Complex, 401 Main St. For more information or to schedule an appointment, call 978-363-1213 and ask for officer Eric Forni.
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, between 1975 and 2008, 8,959 lives were saved through proper use of child restraints. In 2008, approximately 244 children under age 5 involved in motor vehicle accidents were saved by child safety seats and adult seat belts and research shows that child restraints provide the best protection for all children up to age 8.
Forni notes that Safe Kids USA, a nonprofit institution dedicated to eliminating preventable childhood injuries, estimates that each year 975 passengers under age 14 die as a result of a motor vehicle incident; but young children properly restrained in safety seats have an 80 percent lower risk of fatal injury than those who are unrestrained.
A study observing the misuse of 3,442 child restraint systems in six states identified at least one critical misuse in approximately 73 percent of the cases. The most common forms of misuse include loose vehicle seat belt attachment to the seat and loose harness straps securing the child to the seat, Forni said.
Sponsored by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Child Passenger Safety Week is Sept. 19 to 25.
