BEVERLY HILLS—On Tuesday, September 16, the Beverly Hills Police Department informed Canyon News via email that during Child Passenger Safety Week, the Police Department is asking all parents and caregivers to make sure their children are riding safely by using the correct car seats, booster seats, and properly fitted seat belts.
The annual campaign takes place from September 21-27 and aims to raise awareness about the importance of car seat safety and proper installation.
“Every child deserves to travel safely,” said Beverly Hills Police Chief Mark G. Stainbrook.
“During Child Passenger Safety Week, we urge all parents and caregivers to know for sure that their children are in the right seats and that those seats are installed correctly. Keeping a child in the right seat for their age and size can make all the difference in a crash.”
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), nearly half of car seats (46 percent) are misused. Properly installed car seats have been shown to reduce fatal injury crashes by 71 percent for infants under a year old and by 54 percent for toddlers ages one through four.
California law requires all children under two years old to ride in a rear-facing car seat, unless the child is 40 or more pounds or is 40 or more inches tall. Once a child reaches these milestones, all children under the age of eight years old are still required to be secured in a car seat or booster seat, in the back seat. Children eight and older, or who are at least four feet nine inches tall, may be secured by a booster seat, but at a minimum must be secured by a safety belt.
Parents and caregivers should keep children in the proper rear or forward-facing seat as long as possible and use the “Five-Step Test” to determine if their child is big enough to safely use a seat belt without a booster seat.
For more information visit: www.gosafelyca.org for more traffic safety information.
