The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT), alongside the Safe Kids PA Susquehanna Valley Partner, State Farm, and the Janet Weis Children's Hospital, is helping make sure your little ones travel safely. On Thursday, September 12, they're hosting a child safety seat inspection and collection event from 5 PM to 7 PM at the Geisinger Woodbine parking garage. In what they're dubbing the Good Neighbor Car Seat Safety Program, certified technicians will be on-site to inspect child safety seats for proper installation and provide educational materials and safety devices to prevent potential tragedies, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.
Stepping into the startling statistic that Safe Kids Worldwide reports, where three out of four car seats are misused, this event aims to drastically reduce the risk of death, which can plummet by as much as 71 percent with the correct use of a child safety seat. Each technician inspection, ensuring safe installation, will clock in around 30 minutes – though getting infant seats right may take extra time. If available, participants planning to attend should remember to bring their child, safety seats, vehicle, and safety seat manuals.
The safety seat check event isn't just about teaching the proper use of car seats; it's also a call to the community to surrender no longer safe seats. These include expired seats, those that have survived a serious crash, seats that are missing parts or have broken or rusted components, seats without a clear model number or date of manufacture, and particularly seats on a recall list or from a now-defunct manufacturer.
PennDOT takes this moment to remind motorists that it's non-negotiable under Pennsylvania's primary child passenger safety law: children under four must be properly restrained in an approved child safety seat anywhere in the vehicle. Children under two years old must be secured in a rear-facing car seat until the child outgrows the seat's maximum weight and height limits, which the car seat manufacturer has designated. Children aged four to eight need to be in a booster seat, and those between 8 and 18 have a seat belt securing them on their journeys.
