Child Passenger Safety Week—With the 110 Crash Just Behind Us

As many readers in Los Angeles and beyond reflect on the this past Friday, here’s some news we all can use—starting with three fairly startling statistics:

• Motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death in children and young adults—and if you already knew that, consider this:

• At least eight of 10 small children who regularly perish in road accidents would not have died if they had been correctly buckled.

• Finally, nine out of 10 children who attended child seat checkups in the Los Angeles area—presumably a reflective average of the kids driven all over the city—were buckled up wrongly.

Makes you feel like getting your child’s—or children’s—car seat safety belts checked perhaps?

If so, mark your calendars for Sept. 24, the last day of this year’s Child Passenger Safety Week, a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration program. It’s a Saturday, but not just any Saturday—it’s “National Seat Check Saturday.”

The week is aimed at raising public awareness about child safety in cars as well as offering vital life-saving advice from experts at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (Maybe catch a bit of the beach air afterward while practicing your newly learned skills.)

To arrange an appointment for testing the belts on your car’s child restraints, call the Safe Ride Helpline at (310) 222-6860 and leave a message that will result in a return call.

Find more details by clicking here on this link to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration website.

Note: Professionals and volunteers who work with kids may attend a free workshop on protecting children in motor vehicles on Thursday, Sept. 15, at the Altadena Community Center, from 8:15 am—4:30 pm. Call (310) 222-6860 or email safetybeltsafe@gmail.com to sign up.