Child safety continues to be a priority for CHP

The California Highway Patrol (CHP) and the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) are working together to focus on child safety through the California Restraint Safety Education and Training (CARSEAT II) campaign.

Reducing the number of children killed in collisions because they were not properly restrained is the goal of the year-long CARSEAT II campaign. The CHP will host educational seminars, classes, and child safety seat inspections throughout the state to help meet the goal.

“Making sure every child in your vehicle is buckled up in an appropriate car seat for their age and size is the easiest way to prevent serious injury or even death in the event of a crash,” CHP Commissioner Warren Stanley said. “Drivers should set an example by always buckling up and requiring everyone in the vehicle to wear their seat belt, no matter how short the trip.”

California law requires a child be properly restrained in an appropriate child safety seat in the rear seat of a vehicle until they are at least eight years of age. For the best protection, all children should ride rear-facing until they reach the upper weight and height limits of their car seat.

Child passenger safety seats reduce the risk of fatal injury by 71 percent for infants and by 54 percent for toddlers in passenger cars, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has reported. In California, preliminary 2017 data from the Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System of the CHP recorded 17 unrestrained children age seven and younger killed in traffic collisions in the state.

In addition to educational efforts, the CHP will be conducting enforcement operations concentrating on seat belt violations throughout the year with a special emphasis during the national “Click It or Ticket” campaign of OTS and national Child Passenger Safety Week.

More information regarding child passenger safety, child safety seats, and seat belt regulations, is available at any local CHP Area office.

Funding for this program was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.