Non-profit to offer free child car seat inspections

Parents and care givers of children who must still travel in child car seats are invited to attend a free seat check-up event in the parking lot of the Pomona Walmart.

The service will be offered by the non-profit SafetyBeltSafe USA from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 7 in the parking lot of Walmart, 80 Rio Rancho Road.

Parents and care givers are invited to make an appointment to cut down on wait times and to avoid being turned away, the organization said in a statement.

Appointments can be made by calling the Safe Ride Helpline at 310-222-6860 after noon Monday through Friday and leaving a message.

Each year hundreds of small children die and thousands of others are injured in car crashes because the car seats they were riding in were not properly installed, the statement said.

In some cases deaths or injuries resulted because children were not buckled into their seats correctly, the statement said.

In 2010 more than 90 percent of the families who attended SafetyBeltSafe USA events in the Los Angeles area were buckling their children into car seats incorrectly, the statement said.

Teams of nationally certified child passenger safety technicians and trained volunteers will carry out child car seat inspections.

Inspections will include checking if children fit in their seat correctly, if the seat is in the safest spot in the vehicle and whether the children are being properly secured in their seats, the statement said.

The inspections are carried out with grants from the California Office of Traffic Safety and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.