Maricopa police, fire offer car seat tips

The Maricopa Police and Fire departments joined forces to host a seminar on child passenger safety at Maricopa Fire Station 575 on Sept. 19.

Officials recommend the following guidelines:
•    Make sure the car seat properly fits the child’s age and size
•    When placing the car seat in the vehicle, the seat should not move more than one inch from side to side or toward the front of the vehicle

Public safety officials also recommend parents avoid the following car seats:
•    A car seat that is more than six years old
•    A car seat that has been involved in a crash as there may have been unseen damage that will make the seat unsafe
•    A second-hand car seat, if you do not know the details of where it came from

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, up to 80 percent of children’s’ car seats are installed incorrectly by their parents. This is often due to parents not fully reading or following the provided instructions.

During the seminar, fire department officials discussed the four types of car seats available for children. For children less than 1 year old who weigh less than 20 pounds, rear-facing car seats are recommended. Once a child is over 20 pounds, use a forward-facing car seat until they weigh over 40 pounds. After that, children should use a booster seat until they have grown enough to properly fit in a regular seat with a seatbelt reaching from their waist to their shoulder. According to DPS, this typically refers to children over 8 years old and taller than 4-foot-9.

Information and funding for the seminars is provided by the Arizona’s Governor’s Office of Highway Safety. Maricopa Police and Fire departments will be hosting more child passenger safety seminars throughout the year.

For more information on child passenger safety, visit www.nhtsa.dot.gov.