The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that infants ride in the back seat in a rear-facing position from the very first ride home from the hospital. The AAP also advises parents to keep their babies in rear-facing car seats until age 2, or until they reach the maximum height and weight for their car seat. The rear-facing position supports the head, neck and spine and will keep the child 75% safer in a crash.
| Car Seat Inspection (2012) |
| Safe Kids Northeast Florida/Wolfson Children's Hospital in partnership with the Florida Highway Patrol is conducting free Safe Kids Buckle Up car seat checks at Babies R' Us.
The locations, dates and times are:
Destination Maternity
Markets at Town Center
St. John's Town Center
4880 Big Island Drive
Jacksonville 32246 |
Friday, January 13
Friday, February 10
Friday, March 9
If you miss these dates, watch for future dates |
All times:
9-11 am |
Chick Fil A
1925 Wells Road
Orange Park 32073 |
Friday, January 20
Friday, February 17
Friday, March 16
If you miss these dates, watch for future dates |
All times:
9-11:30 am |
For a list of other car seat safety check locations, click here (PDF).
Because of our commitment to children and their safety, we also offer a program, in conjunction with Kohl's Gear Up 4 Safety, of care seat inspections by appointment. Click here for more details.
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When they have outgrown the seat rear-facing, toddlers and preschoolers should use a forward-facing seat with a full harness as long as they fit, at least to 40 pounds. Some forward-facing seats are designed with 5-point harnesses that fit to 50 or even 65 pounds, and children are safer riding in a harnessed seat as long as possible.
Booster seats are for older children who have outgrown their forward-facing car safety seats. Booster seats do not come with harness straps but are used with the lap and shoulder seat belts in your vehicle. Children should stay in a booster seat until adult belts fit correctly (usually when a child reaches about 4' 9" in height and is between 8 and 12 years of age).
Click here for a link to General Child Seat Use Information.
You want to keep your kids safe when they are traveling in a car, but how can you judge what is safe? What child restraint systems work well? And when you find products that will keep your kids safe, will they be too difficult to use properly?
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) can help you. The NHTSA began its “Ease of Use” ratings for child restraint systems, including booster seats, in 2003. The agency uses a grading system of A, B or C to denote how easy it is to use the safety seats. The top grade is A. Click here to see how the NHTSA rates child restraint systems for a large number of safety seats and boosters.
Once you have a safety system installed in your vehicle, it is a good idea to have the installation inspected, just to be on the safe side. Click here to get more information about a free car seat check by a certified technician (BY APPOINTMENT).
For more information on this important topic, please visit the child passenger safety section of the SafeKids Worldwide Web site.
For parents, keeping their preteen children buckled up takes on its own challenges. However, it is as important as with younger children. The rules are similar -- the backseat is the best placement, and they should have restraints at the proper position. Here are some helpful guides to:
Does Your Preteen's Seat Belt Fit Right?
Five Ways to Get Your Preteen Buckled Up
When temperatures are warm outdoors, they will be even hotter inside a closed car. This is true even on a relatively cool summer day. Don't take chances. Never leave children (or animals) unattended in parked vehicles. Temperatures can soar inside a vehicle and those in the car can quickly suffer from heat illness or face the life-threatening problems of heatstroke.