Car accidents, partly because of the improper use of car seats, are the No. 1 cause of death among children ages 2 to 14.
The Long Beach Neighborhood Services Bureau will offer information on how to properly install car seats and boosters at the following Child Passenger Safety Week events:
- 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday in the lobby of the Department of Health and Human Services, 2525 Grand Ave.
- 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday in the lobby at Miller Children's Hospital, 2801 Atlantic Ave.
- 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sept. 17 at Miller Children's Buffum Medical Pavilion, 455 E. Columbia St.
Parents will receive information on car-seat laws, types of safety seats, choosing the correct booster seats for older children and installation.
There will also be information on how to schedule a car-seat inspection.
"It's the responsibility of every parent and caregiver out there to make sure their children are safely restrained -- every trip, every time," says Angela Reynolds, manager of the Neighborhood Services Bureau. "We are urging everyone to get their child safety seats inspected. When it comes to the safety of a child, there is no room for mistakes."
Materials will be presented in English, Spanish and Khmer.
For more information on information for keeping children safe, visit the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration www.nhtsa.gov/cps.
In addition, as a parent who is primarily responsible for shuttling our toddler to childcare, I recommend looking at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's Website, which not only has crash-test data but "losses by make and model," which offer pretty telling data about the injury rates in specific vehicles.
The information is valuable because it is used by the insurance industry to help set rates, but consumers can benefit from itas well to find out which cars are tied to the most injury wrecks. You'll be surprised at how many family sedans and SUVs billed as safe actually score poorly.
Though my last car scored five stars in the NHTSA crash tests, for example, it had significantly higher-than-average injury rates.
I traded it in for a car with well-below average scores.
