Keeping children safe in vehicles
By Ashleigh Plemper
Farmer Staff Writer
Is the most precious cargo in your vehicle in a properly secured car seat?
While many parents assume that they’ve installed their child’s car seat correctly, the answer to that question more than likely is that it is not.
Which is why area law enforcement agencies have been conducting free car seat inspections in Watford City on a monthly basis.
“Many people don’t realize that they’re using a car seat incorrectly,” says Dawn Mayor, Child Passenger Safety Program director with the North Dakota Department of Health. “Of the 22 seats we inspected at last week’s safety check in Watford City, four were used correctly and 18 had some form of misuse associated with them.”
According to Mayor, a lot of the installation errors seen included tether straps being routed incorrectly, car seats being too loosely secured in vehicles, and both the seat belt and the lower anchors were being used when only one or the other is supposed to be in use at a time.
“The purpose of the checks is to assure that our children are properly restrained inside their car seats,” says Sgt. Jeffrey Jensen of the Watford City Police Department on the free car seat safety checks.
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