Get Car Seats Checked during National Child Passenger Safety Week

TMA Bucks (Transportation Management Association) is encouraging motorists to participate in free child passenger safety seat checkups throughout the Bucks County area during National Child Passenger Safety Week, September 14-21.

This year’s theme, “Buckled Right—Know for Sure” aims to encourage parents and caregivers to select the correct child safety restraints for their child’s age and size as well as properly secure children during every trip.

“On an average day in Pennsylvania, there are about 340 reportable crashes on state highways,” said TMA Bucks executive director Bill Brady. “Research has found that using the correct car seat reduces the chance of fatal injury by 71 percent for infants and 54 percent for toddlers.”

Children who are correctly buckled in a child safety seat, booster seat or seatbelt benefit from the single most effective way to protect motor vehicle occupants and reduce fatalities in a crash. From 2009 - 2013, 81 percent of the children under age 4 who were involved in crashes and restrained in a car seat sustained no injury.

Free child safety seat checks by certified technicians will be available around the Bucks County area during National Child Passenger Safety Week:

· Pep Boys, 222 South West End Blvd., Quakertown

Sept. 17: 2 - 8 p.m.

· Babies R Us, 330 Commerce Blvd., Fairless Hills

Sept. 20: 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Schedule an appointment online at chop.edu/childsafety

· Abington Memorial Hospital, 1200 Old York Road, Abington

Sept. 20: 8 a.m. - noon

Schedule an appointment online at chop.edu/childsafety

Child passenger safety includes all children from newborns through teenage drivers. The American

Academy of Pediatrics provided best practice recommendations for the use of car seats, booster seats, and seatbelts for children of all ages. These recommendations are evidence-based, and Child Passenger Safety Week provides the perfect opportunity to evaluate the safety of the entire family in the family vehicle.

Under Pennsylvania’s child passenger safety law, all drivers are responsible for securing children in the appropriate child restraint system. All children from birth up to age four must be secured in an approved child safety seat anywhere in the vehicle. All children age four up to age eight must be secured in a seatbelt system and appropriate child booster seat anywhere in the vehicle.

All children age eight up to age 18 must be secured in a seatbelt system anywhere in the vehicle. Under Pennsylvania’s seatbelt law, all drivers are responsible for the front seat occupants to wear a properly adjusted and fastened seat belt system. All drivers under 18 years of age may not operate a motor vehicle in which the number of passengers exceeds the number of available safety seat belts in the vehicle.