CAR-SEAT SAFETY INSPECTION

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — Health-care, public safety and law enforcement representatives will discuss a change in California’s car-seat law, which now requires children to be properly secured in a vehicle’s back seat until they are at least 6 years old or weigh at least 60 pounds, on Thursday, Feb. 10, at 10 a.m. at the Ronald McDonald House, 2555 49th St., Sacramento.

Participants will discuss the California Child Restraint Law, which became effective Jan. 1. Chief Greg Manuel of the California Highway Patrol will explain the law and its exceptions.

Following the discussion of the new law, the first Child Passenger Safety Seat inspection will take place from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

To emphasize the importance of proper car seat use, sponsors of the inspection have collected a large pile of unsafe car seats from garage sales, second-hand stores, flea markets and previous inspections. These seats will be destroyed and discarded into a dumpster.

In addition, Rick Fowler, vice president and general manager for the USAA Foundation, a charitable trust, will announce that his organization has donated $34,000 to UC Davis Health System to purchase car seats for newborn babies of disadvantaged families born at UC Davis Medical Center.

Dana Long, public information representative for the UC Davis Center For Injury Prevention, said, “Many parents are under the false impression that children who have outgrown child safety seats can move right into safety belts, but nothing could be further from the truth. Safety belts, which are designed to fit adults, won’t fully restrain a child in a crash.

“Children need to be in the right restraint for their size and age,” Long said. “One study showed that children ages 2-5 who are moved to safety belts too early are four times more likely to sustain a serious head injury than those restrained in booster seats.”

National Child Passenger Safety Week is set for Feb. 13-19. Sponsored by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the week is intended to remind parents and other adults to properly restrain children traveling in motor vehicles. To observe the week, several car safety seat inspections have been scheduled in the Sacramento area.

Here is a schedule of the car-seat inspections that will be held in the Sacramento area during National Child Passenger Safety Week:

CAR-SEAT SAFETY INSPECTION TO HIGHLIGHT CHANGE IN LAW, KICK OFF CHILD PASSENGER SAFETY WEEK