LAURINBURG – Laurinburg Fire Department wants to help parents keep children safe while on the road.
To do that, firefighters will be hold a car seat/child restraint safety check at the North Laurinburg Fire Station Thursday from 1 to 4 p.m.
Parents who want to be absolutely certain that children are properly buckled in a seat belt, car seat or booster seat can drop by the station and a certified child safety seat technician will have a look.
“Don’t worry if it’s not buckled in right. There will be no tickets issued if it’s wrong. We’re just here to check and make sure children are safe,” said Engineer Donald Locklear. “We prefer that the child be with them so we can check the straps and make sure they’ve got the right tightness, and the shoulder harness is where it needs to be, basic safety information.”
Locklear is one of a few Laurinburg firefighters trained and certified by National Safe Kids.
“We have to be certified with child passenger safety seats, and we have to be re-certified every two years,” Locklear said.
The checkpoint will take place rain or shine. Parents will be asked to pull their cars into the stations’ bays and technicians will demonstrate the proper way to install the seat or safety belt.
“We will walk you through step for step instillation and we will watch you do it so you can make sure you know how to install it correctly,” Locklear said.
Locklear said that placing a car seat is easy to get wrong because there is a lot to know about how safety seats function and how various factors affect their ability to work properly.
When he first took the class, his wife was five months pregnant.
“There was a lot I didn’t know about safety seats and I had a kid on the way,” Locklear said. “So even if you think your seat is right come let us look just to be sure.”
Technicians will look for several factors to ensure that kids are protected. They will ensure that the child is the right weight for the seat, that the seat is properly installed, that restraint straps are correctly across the child and whether or not the seat is expired.
Parents should also register their seat when they purchase it and check frequently to make sure it is not under a recall. Safety advocates also warn that parents should not buy used seats.
“You don’t know if that car seat has been in an accident and could have got a crack in it. That car seat needs to be able to function, and you need to know it’s going to do the job,” Locklear said.
Safety advocates and state laws set specific guidelines for how and when safety seats should be used.
Children birth to two years old and under 40 pounds should be in rear facing seats and after that a front facing car seat or booster seat until eight years old or 80 pounds. Children under the age of 13 are required to be in the back seat and belted in.
According to Safe Kids North Carolina, car crashes are the leading cause of death for children ages one to 19. Thirty three percent children 12 and under who died in car accidents in 2011 were unrestrained.
Preschoolers from two to five years old who are put in seat belts too soon are four times more likely to suffer a serious head injury in a crash than a child in a safety seat or booster seat.
Parents who want their seat checked but cannot make it to Thursday’s event can still get it examined.
The North and South Laurinburg fire stations are certified checking stations. Parents can call the Laurinburg Fire Department and schedule an appointment to have their seats looked at. The department also has a few seats to give away for families who cannot afford a seat if they find that something is wrong with their current seat.
The Laurinburg Police Department and Scotland County Sheriff’s Office are also certified checkpoints.
