Is Your Child's Car Seat Properly Installed?

Seven out of ten car seats are incorrectly installed, according to Leigh Ebelhar, program specialist with the Georgia Traffic Injury Prevention Institute.

Ebelhar visited Toddle Time at St. Mary's Hospital on April 8 to present a program about the basics of child restraint systems.

Although Georgia has a high rate of child restraint use, misuse remains a widespread problem, she explained to a group of moms and tots. Often car seats only need minor tweaking to ensure a child's safety, Ebelhar said.

"Many times the child is buckled, but the strap is not as tight as it should be," she said.

Funded by grants from the Georgia Department of Highway Safety, the Georgia Traffic Injury Prevention Institute is part of the University of Georgia's Cooperative Extension Service, and works through the College of Family and Consumer Sciences.

Grant objectives are to increase child seat safety usage, encourage overall seat belt usage, and disseminate other safety-related information to the public, she said.

"Every car seat check provides parents with education," Ebelhar said.  "They want to do the right thing, and we want to give them the knowledge,"

The institute also trains child passenger safety technicians who go out into the community to check child restraints.  , , and  the Georgia State Patrol Athens Post are some of the local places where parents can find technicians, she said.

Here are some other things to keep in mind:

• The National Highway Traffic Administration released new child seat guidelines  last month.

• Georgia legislators are debating changes to current child restraint law.

Sarah Shelnutt, a graduate research assistance for Dr. Carol Cotton, the director of traffic safety research and evaluation group, coordinated the event.  Friday's theme for National Public Safety Week was "In your Community," she said.

"When I heard about Toddle Time, it seemed like a good idea," Shelnutt said. "There was already a group of interested moms with young children and infants."

Mary Michael Pontzer, mom to 15-month-old Alexandra, said she attended the program because she wanted to brush up on recent changes to car seat guidelines. She also had some apprehension when she switched her daughter from an infant to convertible car seat and hoped to have some of those concerns addressed.

"The biggest piece of advice I have for other moms is to test out car seats in your vehicle, because not all of them fit the same way," she said.