Mammoth Blog

alifornia's top traffic safety
officials urge parents and caregivers across the state to maximize child
passenger safety by following the 4 Steps for Kids guidelines to determine
which restraint system is best suited to protect children based on age and
size.

"Parents need to make sure they're using the right seat for the right child in
the right vehicle,"
said Christopher J. Murphy, Director of the California Office of Traffic
Safety. "The 4 Steps for Kids campaign helps simplify the information so that
parents know when to graduate from rear-facing, to forward-facing, to booster
and then to a seat belt."

A series of free child safety seat checks will be held statewide as part of
Child Passenger Safety Week September 12-18. The week-long observance will
kickoff with Seat Check Saturday on September 12.

"Keeping children properly restrained on each and every trip will provide the
best possible protection in the event of a crash," said California Highway
Patrol Commissioner Joe Farrow. "I strongly encourage parents to take the time
to make sure their seat is being used correctly by visiting a safety seat
check event. It could mean the difference between life and death."

California law requires that children be properly secured in the back seat in
a child restraint system until they are at least six years old or 60 lbs.*
Additionally, children who are at least six years old or weigh at least 60
pounds and are under age 16 must be properly secured in either a child
restraint system or seat belt. On a first offense, a child passenger
violation will cost $445 with penalty assessments. A second or subsequent
offense carries a total cost of $1,025. If the parent is not in the car, the
driver gets the ticket.

Estimates from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
indicate that 33 children age four and under would have been saved in 2008 in
California had they been properly restrained in a child safety seat.
California's 2008 child safety seat use rate was 94.4 percent, an all-time
high.

In the upcoming year, the California Office of Traffic Safety has allocated
nearly $3 million in grants statewide for child safety seat check ups, public
awareness presentations and campaigns, providing NHTSA Certified Child
Passenger Safety Technician training, distributing low cost or no cost child
safety seats to low income families, and related child safety programs.

Parents and caregivers are encouraged to find a child safety seat check event
in their area by visiting one of the following Web sites, by calling their
local police or fire department for information, or by visiting the OTS Web
site at www.ots.ca.gov.

California Highway Patrol - Seat checks are carried out at every local CHP
office. Contact your local office for dates, locations and details. Click
"Office Locator" at www.chp.ca.gov

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Click "Locate a Child Seat Fitting Station" at www.nhtsa.dot.gov

California Safe Kids
http://www.safekidsweb.org/events/events.asp

*NHTSA recommends all children 12 and under ride in the back seat.
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