FREE Car Seat Safety Checks

This is National Child Passenger Safety Week (September 15-21), and many FREE car seat safety checks being offered in our area by Safe Kids Wake County. Click here to find one near you.

Also, be sure to ALWAYS buckle your children into their car seats. Surprisingly, a study released by Safe Kids Worldwide found:

Buckling Up on Short or Overnight Trips

Twenty-one percent of parents said it was acceptable to drive with their child unrestrained if they are not driving far. However, 60 percent of crashes involving children occur 10 minutes or less from home.
Some parents (16 percent) also feel it is acceptable to allow children to ride unrestrained on overnight trips. However, this is the time period when children are most likely to be injured in a crash.
Twenty-three percent of younger parents (ages 18-29) said it would be acceptable to ride with a child unrestrained when traveling overnight compared to 13 percent of older parents (ages 30-49). More than one in four (27 percent) younger parents said it would be acceptable for short rides compared to 19 percent of older parents.

Affluence

One in three of more affluent parents (34 percent), those with a household income of $100,000 or higher, said it was acceptable to leave their child unrestrained if they are not driving a far distance, compared to 15 percent of parents making less than $35,000.

Education

Parents with graduate degrees are twice as likely to say it is acceptable to drive without buckling up their children, compared to parents with a high school education, particularly when they are in a rush (20 percent compared to 10 percent).

The new report, “Buckle Up: Every Ride, Every Time,” provides recommendations for improving laws around child passenger safety, including upgrading weaker booster seat laws to cover children up to the age of eight, and renewing a commitment to enforcing child passenger safety laws.

In addition, parents and caregivers are encouraged to follow three safety strategies consistently: