Car Seat Safety Check {Guest Post}

It’s New Years and we’re trying to stick to our New Years Resolutions.
Many of us have already broken one or two of them but here’s one everyone should take the time to keep.

Have you checked to see if your child’s car seat  is properly installed?
This simple question could have tragic consequences.
Did you know that there are certified child passenger safety technicians willing to check your car seat for FREE?

This Saturday, January 9, 2015,  local Banner Dealerships are partnering with NOLA EMS to check your car seat
at two locations from 10am -1pm (no appointment necessary, each check takes approximately 15 minutes).
This event is brought to you by Banner Drives Foundation, Banner dealerships’ new philanthropy program announced in 2015 :

Banner Chevrolet
5950 Chef Menteur Hwy, New Orleans, LA

Banner Ford
1943 N Causeway Blvd, Mandeville,

If you can’t make it this Saturday, you can still get your car seat checked for FREE! Please take the time to read this guest post by Jeremy, a certified child passenger safety technician and first responder in Mandeville, LA who has seen first hand the repercussions of  a child improperly restrained:

Is Your Child Safe?

            Is your child actually as safe as you think?  According to the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA), 75% of all child restraints in use today are installed incorrectly across the country.  In the state of Louisiana, that percentage is even higher–96%.  Motor vehicle accidents are one of the leading causes of serious injury and death in children from birth through their teenage years.  Of those deaths, the majority could have been prevented had the child been properly restrained.  For the child restraint to work–like it was designed and tested to do–it must be installed correctly. 

            I’m often asked about state law as it pertains to child restraints. I explain that what the law states is simply a minimum standard.  The more important question is, “What’s the weight range for your child’s seat?”  In my opinion, it is always best to keep your child as protected as possible. Crash research involving the amount of force exerted on a child’s body during a frontal collision has been conducted and the results are astounding.  Most parents want their child to be in a forward facing seat as early as possible for various reasons.  However, even though the child may have reached the age of one, if involved in an accident, the child’s neck muscles aren’t strong enough to support their head which could cause significant neck and spinal cord injuries.  Injuries which could be prevented if the child was left in a rear facing seat longer.

            As stated earlier, Louisiana has a very high rate of child seats that are incorrectly installed.  Despite my many years as a first responder and believing I was perfectly competent in installing my own children’s car seats, I was also in that 96%.  It was only after going through the extensive training to become a technician that I realized that both of my children’s seats were installed incorrectly. I hope to never see another child seriously injured or killed because the child was improperly restrained.  To have your child restraints installed or checked by a certified child passenger safety technician, please contact me at the Mandeville Fire Department (985) 626-8671 or via jwindom@mandevillefire.com. The service is free and it could save your child’s life.