ClarksvilleNow.com Reporting
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CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office will be conducting free child car seat safety checks from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at Kohl’s, 2840 Wilma Rudolph Boulevard as part of National Child Passenger Safety Week.
Deputies will be checking to make sure child car seats are properly installed. Children must be present for the check. Each check will take about 20 minutes.
“We will explain how to install the seat and then show you how to do it and make sure you can install it correctly,” said Sgt. Jimmy Brown. “We also check the seat for recalls and make sure you understand the dangers to children of loose items in the car.”
There will be a small amount of paperwork to complete, and a limited amount of seats will be checked on a first come first served basis.
The Auto Club Group (ACG) of AAA is also encouraging parents and caregivers to make sure their children are riding in a safe seat, discovering in a recent AAA Consumer Pulse™ survey that 43 percent of people surveyed in Tennessee agree it is difficult to make arrangements to have booster seats available for other people’s children.
According to ACG, with schools back in session, carpooling among parents increases, which can result in situations where children are not riding in a car seat or booster seat.
The group advises that one of the most frequent car seat mistakes is positioning harness straps too loosely, meaning children will not be properly restrained in the event of a crash, and could be ejected from the seat. Harness straps should lie flat and not have twists. The harness should be snug enough to not pinch any extra material at the child’s shoulder.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration advises using booster seats to reduce injuries by 45 percent. Children who have outgrown their five-point harness car seat by weight or height should use a booster seat until they reach 4’9’’, typically between the ages of 8-12.