Parents in the Bay Area of California will be able to take advantage of free car seat training from the California Highway Patrol this weekend, and officials are calling such activities essential to ensuring safety. Persons with experience with car seat inspections note that having a car seat perfectly secured is an exceedingly rare occurrence, and a seat check can help change that.
In fact, one inspector for the Greater Sacramento branch of Safe Kids Worldwide estimates that only four of the 2,000 seats she’s gone over could be considered as being perfectly installed over the course of eight year. Estimates from safety officials are slightly better than that, but no less alarming: they say 75% of seats are installed incorrectly.
That same inspector notes that the reason for shoddy installation often has to do with first-time parents who get installation directions from parents or other trusted acquaintances who themselves don’t know the right way to install a seat. She points to straps being too loose or the seat itself not being properly affixed as some of the most typical issues.
A member of California’s Office of Traffic Safety explains that even minor mistakes like loose belt or a car seat moving slightly need to be corrected. He notes that parents who come into an event put on by the CHP can leave with assurances that their children will be as protected as possible.