Are you using your child car seat properly?

March is Occupant Restraint month in Alberta. Tuesday morning, Police officers and members of Alberta Health Services were at the intersection of 34 Avenue and 71 Street checking that drivers had their children’s car seats installed properly.

“Motor vehicle collisions are the leading cause of death and serious injury for Canadian children,” says Staff Sergeant Barry Maron adding, “Using a child safety seat correctly can reduce the chance of a child being injured or killed in a collision by 75 per cent.”

“We’re here because we don’t want to see children injured and families torn apart by all the issues of a very seriously injured child that can happen,” explains Lacey Hoyland, an injury prevention coordinator from AHS.

She says there are a few key safety issues they are looking for.

“First of all i’m looking at the installation of the seat in the vehicle, so you want to ensure the (seat belt) is going through the correct area of the car seat,” Hoyland says adding, “It’s underneath between the base and the child restraint.”

She says the seat belt needs to be tight and locked, with no slack in the belt.

The second part is to look at how the infant is strapped into the seat.

“The shoulder harnesses need to be over both of the (infants) shoulders and meeting with the chest clip at about the armpit level.”

If the clip is further down, around the infants stomach, there is a chance the child could be ejected out of the seat. Hoyland says the harness needs to be tight, with only enough room for one finger to fit between the child and the harness.

“In a rear facing car seat, the biggest mistake we see is that people don’t do the harness straps up tight enough.”

Hoyland says in front facing car seats, people don’t understand that they have to tether their seats as well as use the seat belt- which has been a law since 1985.

“It’s a strap that comes off the top of the car seat, goes down into the vehicle somewhere and keeps the top of the seat from bending forward in a crash.”

Hoyland says officers will be issuing tickets however,

“If we find that there are errors in their seats, they get an opportunity to come to a class, learn what they need to know, and then their ticket is withdrawn.”

At a child restraint safety check conducted last Tuesday, a total of 36 vehicles with children on board were stopped and checked, which resulted in 16 violations.

For more information on child safety seat restraints, proper installation, and free safety clinics visit the Edmonton Police website.