Car safety seat inspections planned for Saturday morning
Death of Wichita child shows importance of booster seats for older children
Staff writer
The death this week of a five-year-old in a Wichita traffic accident shows the importance of placing children in car safety seats.
"It's not really the age of a child that's important, it's the weight," said Marion County Healthy Start coordinator Sondra Mayfield.
Children who weigh less than 80 pounds should be kept safe in a car seat or booster seat, Mayfield said.
As part of Child Passenger Safety Awareness Week Feb. 13-19, Marion County Health Department and Hillsboro Police Department is teaming up with Kansas SAFE KIDS to offer car seat inspections from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at Irv Schroeder Motors in Hillsboro.
Representatives from Hillsboro Police Department also will be on hand Saturday to fingerprint children to help with identification in case it should ever become necessary.
"People can pull in and we can inspect their car seat and make sure it's installed right," Mayfield said. "Four out of five seats are put in wrong."
Kansas law requires children under the age of four to be restrained in an appropriate safety seat. Once they are four years old, only a seatbelt is required by law.
Even though the five-year-old who died in the Wichita traffic accident was restrained by a seat belt — as required by law — he still suffered fatal injuries in the accident.
Mayfield feels this incident is a perfect example of why children who are four years and older should be placed in booster seats until they reach a weight or height where built-in vehicle restraints are workable. Because children are small, the shoulder belt doesn't restrain them properly. And because of that, oftentimes, the shoulder belt is not used at all.
"The child was just using the lap belt. The shoulder belt was behind his back," Mayfield commented.
During a television interview Tuesday on KSNW-TV, Trooper Gary Warner said children should be restrained in a booster seat until they're four feet nine inches tall.
Besides inspecting car seats, representatives during Saturday's Hillsboro event also will determine whether or not the particular car or booster seat has been recalled by the manufacturer.
Mayfield further noted that parents should never buy a used car or booster seat at a yard sale or from an individual where they do not know the seat's history.
"Seats over six years old are not safe anymore," Mayfield said.
Marion County Health Department has infant, convertible, and booster seats available for rent at a minimal charge.
Statistics show that motor vehicle crashes are the number one killer of children, according to a news release from the Kansas Department of Transportation.
