North Carolina's Child Passenger Safety Week seeks to raise awareness

Last week, North Carolina launched the annual Child Passenger Safety Week, an initiative aiming to raise awareness about correctly installing child safety seats in vehicles, according to a press release by the North Carolina Office of State Fire Marshal.

The week began with a free car seat safety event in Apex hosted by Safe Kids North Carolina, the Governor’s Highway Safety Program and State Farm. 

Cass Herring, director of child occupant protection for Safe Kids N.C., said Child Passenger Safety Week is dedicated to messaging and events around North Carolina which provide education and resources to communities about car seat safety. 

In 2023, 23 children under the age of seven died in fatal traffic crashes, Director of the Governor’s Highway Safety Program Mark Ezzell said. He said Child Passenger Safety Week intends to reduce that number to zero by checking car and booster seats, ensuring correct use. 

“Some folks don’t have adequate child passenger safety seats, [and] booster seats are not something that every new parent or new caregiver has or not something that every new parent or caregiver knows how to properly use,” Ezzell said. "Events like what we’re doing and the work that’s occurring during CPS Week can help counteract that.”

Child Passenger Safety Week was established in the late 1990s and has been an active program for over 30 years, Allan Buchanan, the director of community risk and reduction at the N.C. Office of State Fire Marshal, said. He said the program keeps up with the evolving technology of car seats. 

Ezzell said North Carolina parents and caregivers can have their car seats checked by trained technicians by scheduling an appointment or visiting one of 289 permanent checking stations available in 99 of North Carolina’s counties. The locations are found at local fire departments, law enforcement agencies or hospitals, he said.

When a parent or caregiver attends one of the visiting stations, Herring said, trained technician is provided with the child’s height, weight and age. Next, she said, the technician will demonstrate and explain car seat installation and adjustment based on the child and family’s needs. 

Ezzell said over 5,000 car seats were checked free-of-charge through this system in 2023.

“At each one of these events, you’re getting educational materials,” Herring said. “You’re getting hands-on, active education where the caregiver leaves more empowered and feels more confident about the safety of their child.”

The program measures its success by reductions in children's fatalities and injuries caused by misused car seats, Buchanan said.

The Governor’s Highway Safety Program funds the technician training and website development for Child Passenger Safety Week and other programs, including heat stroke in young children who have been inadvertently left in cars, Ezzell said.

Herring also said the program is striving to become more accessible and fill the gaps of need in specific communities. She said they are specifically working on increasing the amount of Spanish-speaking technicians to ensure there is equal opportunity for access to the educational resources. 

“We highly encourage parents and caregivers to go get their seats checked," Buchanan said. "It’s a free service and it’s all about keeping their children safe."

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