Buckle up. In observance of the week of the Air Force Family, Karla Abney, the family advocacy nurse on Bolling AFB, held a child car-seat clinic Nov. 4 at the Child Development Center.
Her primary concern was ensuring the car seats were properly fitted into the vehicles.
Fully certified as a ‘‘child passenger safety technician,” Abney gave those who attended the clinic information sheets that listed the type of car seat to be used in correlation with the age and weight of a child.
She also distributed state-law information regarding mandatory use of child car-seat restraint devices.
Abney wanted parents to know that the ‘‘optimum locale to place a child’s car-seat is in the rear middle seat of the vehicle.” However, if you cannot attach it there, any rear-seat positioning will suffice.
Only a child with special-care needs (you must have a doctor’s note to show at police checks) allow for putting a car seat in the front seat of the vehicle (only Virginia allows this exception).
In that situation, it is best that you switch off the airbag deploy-mechanism.
The type of child carrier⁄booster car-seat that a person uses greatly depends on the age and weight of the child.
For instance, Abney said that parents favored getting carrier seats for newborns (usually weighing up to 5 pounds) that were rear-facing.
‘‘Parents can also get convertible seats that can be used first for newborns and then adjusted to fit children ages 4 and up,” she said.
Usually rear-facing models can handle 35 pounds, and forward-facing models can handle weights of 40 pounds or more. Typically, booster seats, where the child is secured by the vehicle’s regular safety belts, can be used for children 4 and older, depending upon their weight.
The various state laws will determine when it is permissible to legally use just a car’s seat-belt system for your child. Police checks will not result in a penalty for the vehicle’s driver if the child is not in a carrier or booster seat. Fortunately, Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia all agree to require a child restraint seating device for children 7 and younger.
There are some states that allow parents to use the vehicle’s safety belts to secure a child at 4 years of age.
However, regardless of the age of the child, Abney cautioned parents that older children should use a booster seat until a car’s seat belts hit them ‘‘just right.”
She said that parents should only solely rely on a vehicle’s seat belt to secure the child if they know the child won’t squirm out of the belted position during the trip.
Abney advised parents that they should know that their child is ready for using a car’s seat belt system if:
the child sits all the way back against the auto seat;
the child's knees bend comfortably at the edge of the seat;
in the case of a shoulder strap, the seat belt crosses the child's shoulder between the neck and the arm;
in the case of a lap belt, the belt is positioned as low as possible (touching the child's thighs);
the child can stay in the correct seat-belted position for the entire journey.
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