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Child
Passenger Seat Fitting Station
Instructs
parents on how to correctly install their child safety seat
Are
Your Kids SAFE? According to Safe Kids USA, 96% of parents
believe they install their child safety seat correctly. Unfortunately,
82% of children placed in child safety seats are improperly
restrained. Is your child one of them? Harvey County Health
Department can help you ensure that your child is safe.
- The
Harvey County Health Department is a fitting station for
child passenger safety seats
- Call
316-283-1637 for an appointment with certified child passenger
safety technician, Margaret Goering
- Check
out this website for additional seat check information:
SeatCheck.org
Enforcement
of Kansas booster seat law begins July 1:
Warnings are replaced by citations
Safe
Kids Kansas is reminding parents that a change in the enforcement
of the Kansas booster seat law takes effect on July 1, 2007,
when warnings for violations of the booster seat law will
be replaced by citations carrying a fine of $60 plus court
costs. Motorists are required to properly restrain children
ages 4 through 7 in a booster seat, unless the child weighs
more than 80 pounds or is taller than 4 feet 9 inches. For
information on the law and how to properly secure children
in booster seats, visit www.kansasboosterseat.org.
Motor
vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for children
ages 4 through 7, and booster seats used properly with safety
belts have been proven more effective than safety belts alone
at reducing the risk of injury to children involved in a crash.
A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association
in June 2003 concluded that children ages 4 through 7 using
booster seats were 59 percent less likely to be injured in
a crash than children who were restrained only by an adult
safety belt.
“Belt-positioning
booster seats help protect children who are too big for child
seats but too physically immature to use an adult seat belt,”
said Jan Stegelman, Safe Kids Kansas Coordinator. A belt-positioning
booster seat raises the child up so that the seat belt fits
the child’s body. Since children in booster seats use
the adult seat belt, no installation of the seat is required.
“A belt-positioning booster seat not only makes a child
safer, but also makes the safety belt fit better and feel
better to the child,” said Stegelman.
Booster seats that meet federal safety standards and fit children
from 40 to 80 lbs. are readily available for $12-$30 at local
retailers around the state. In fact, all currently manufactured
combination child safety seats will convert to a belt-positioning
booster seat, so in many cases, a new seat is not even needed.
Read the car seat manufacturer’s instructions to find
out if this is an option. Safe Kids Kansas and local community
groups will continue to work with retailers to assure that
adequate supplies of reasonably priced booster seats are available
to Kansas parents.
When
securing children in a booster seat, drivers should make sure
the shoulder belt is snug across the chest and rests flat
across the center of the collarbone. The shoulder belt should
never be placed behind a child’s back or under the arm.
“The
law enforcement community and the Kansas Highway Patrol are
dedicated to the safety of all Kansas children,” said
Colonel William Seck, Superintendent of the Kansas Highway
Patrol. “We will be aggressively enforcing the booster
seat law, as we do all provisions of Kansas’ child passenger
safety laws.”
The
Kansas child passenger safety law requires that children be
secured in an appropriate child passenger safety restraint,
using the following guidelines:
-
Children under age 1 and 20 lbs. must ride in a rear-facing
child seat.
- Children
ages 1 (who are over 20 lbs), 2 and 3 must be properly restrained
in a forward-facing child seat.
- Children
ages 4, 5, 6 and 7 must ride in a booster seat unless the
child weighs more than 80 pounds or the child is taller
than 4 feet 9 inches.
- Children
ages 8 through 13 must be protected by a vehicle safety
belt.
Safe
Kids Kansas, Inc. is a nonprofit Coalition of 67 statewide
organizations and businesses dedicated to preventing accidental
injuries to Kansas children ages 0-14. Local coalitions and
chapters are located in Allen, Anderson, Atchison, Clay, Coffey,
Dickinson, Doniphan, Douglas, Ellis, Finney, Ford, Franklin,
Geary, Jackson, Jefferson, Johnson, Labette, Leavenworth,
Marion, Marshall, McPherson, Meade, Mitchell, Montgomery,
Nemaha, Osage, Pottawatomie, Republic, Rice, Riley, Saline,
Smith, Shawnee, Wabaunsee, Wilson and Woodson Counties, as
well as the cities of Chanute, Emporia, Leavenworth, Norton,
Pittsburg, the Wichita Area and the Metro Kansas City Area.
Safe Kids Kansas a member of Safe Kids Worldwide, a global
network of organizations whose mission is to prevent accidental
childhood injury. The lead agency for Safe Kids Kansas is
the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. For more
information visit www.kansassafekids.org.
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