Police to conduct child safety seat checks

Events being held as part of Child Passenger Safety Week

As part of the Child Passenger Safety Week, local and state police are conducting free child safety seat checks.

WEST BRADFORD >> As part of the Child Passenger Safety Week from Sept. 18 to 24, local and state police are conducting free child safety seat checks.

State police noted that research has shown that correctly using an appropriate child restraint or seat belt is the single most effective way to save lives and reduce injuries in crashes. Using age and size appropriate child restraints is the best way to reduce these deaths, they added.

Motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of death of children ages 1 to 13. Every 33 seconds, one child under 13 is involved in a crash, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Two children under 13 in 2014 were killed and 308 were injured in car accidents that year.

The Pennsylvania State Police, Troop J Embreeville, will conduct a car seat check on Wednesday, Sept. 21, from 2 to 8 p.m. at the West Bradford Fire Company substation at 1385 Campus Drive, West Bradford. It is on the corner of Marshalton Thorndale and Poorhouse roads. Certified child passenger safety technicians will check car seats for proper installation. Parents and caregivers will be educated on how to choose the right car seats and how to properly install them in their vehicles.

The event is part of the National Child Passenger Safety Week and is free to the public. Appointments, while not required, are recommended. Contact Trooper Waleska Gonzalez at 610-486-6181.

Certified Child Passenger Safety Seat Technicians will be available to check child safety seats, provide information and answer questions at the checkpoints in the region.

Also that day, safety checks will be held at Paoli Hospital at 255 West Lancaster Avenue, from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Contact: 610906-2711 and at Avondale Fire Company at 23 Firehouse Way, from 2 to 8 p.m. Contact: 610-268-2022.

Coatesville

The Coatesville Police Department announced that it will use a grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Transporta-

tion (PennDOT) and with support from the Pennsylvania Traffic Injury Prevention Project, will have officers dedicated to both education and enforcement. Coatesville police and other departments and highway safety partners throughout the Commonwealth to provide child passenger safety information, presentations, provide fitting stations, and write citations to motorists who are caught transporting unrestrained children.

State Police remind parents that anyone who transports a child under four years of age anywhere

in the motor vehicle must fasten the child securely in an approved child safety seat. Children four years of age or older but under 8 years old must be secured with both the vehicle’s safety seat belt system and an appropriately fitting child booster seat. Pennsylvania law requires a drivers and passengers to buckle their seatbelts.

Pennsylvania Child Passenger Safety Protection Law requires all drivers to secure children younger than 2 years of age in a rear-facing child passenger restraint system, to be used until the child outgrows the maximum weight and height limits designated by the car seat manufacturer.

PennDOT said because of the potential dangers associated with air bag deployment, children ages 12 and under should always ride buckled in a vehicle’s back seat.

Additional checks in Chester County include: Thursday, Sept. 22, from 9 a.m. to noon at the West Goshen Police Department at 1025 Paoli Pike in West Goshen. For more information, call 610-9062711; and Saturday, Sept. 24 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Kelly Chevrolet at 600 Nutt Road, Phoenixville. Contact: 610-344-5557.