Parents can get help with car seats
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on June 20, 2005 1:45 PM
Grant money awarded to Wayne Partnership for Children will be used to teach parents the correct way to install a car seat.
An estimated four out of five car seats are not installed properly, said David Poythress of the partnership. Poythress also serves as coordinator of the local chapter of Safe Kids.
"They may not be installed tight enough or the harness on the child might be too loose," Poythress explained.
The partnership has offered several car seat safety check clinics throughout the county this year, focusing on how the car seat and the child are restrained.
The $2,000 grant comes from the North Carolina of Department of Insurance/Office of State Fire Marshall and the N.C. Governor's Highway Safety Program. It will go toward the purchase of a Heavy Duty Vehicle Seat Simulator.
Poythress described the training device as being fashioned like a passenger seat from a car.
"They get them from a car manufacturer plant that builds seats for cars," he said. "The company adds to that a rotating wheel that has all the different types of seat belts that you would have in a car."
The seat, he said, is on a stand to provide ease in demonstrating parents how to properly install it into a vehicle.
Like cars, there are also different types of seat belts and latches, specifically lightweight and heavier models.
"In some of them, like an emergency locking one, there's a piece that goes into the buckle itself," he said. "Some of those lock; some of the them don't...They may need to put a locking clip on the belt."
Another safety event is being planned for later this summer, Poythress said.
In the meantime, the partnership office will schedule individual appointments to answer questions on whether a car seat is properly installed. Call 735-3371, Ext. 230, for more information.