About 72 percent of parents and guardians across the country unknowingly are putting their children between the ages of 1 and 4 at risk by misusing car seats, East Lansing police detective Candace Ivey said Tuesday.
“That’s not for a lack of trying,” she said. “Most parents try really hard. It’s just very confusing sometimes if they don’t refer to the manual for the car seat as well as the manual of the vehicle.”
In hopes to reduce that percentage, the East Lansing and MSU police departments hosted a child safety seat event at Appletree Christian Learning Center, 3341 Coleman Road, on Tuesday afternoon to inspect car seats and educate parents on the best ways to keep their children safe in vehicles.
Because every car, safety seat and child is different, Ivey said it is vital parents take the time to know how to properly install safety seats. Children of different ages, heights and weights require different positioning of the seat — forward or rear facing — and different sized care seats.
Ivey said the event was held at the day care center, where parents consistently are picking up and dropping off children, to attract as many participants as possible.
“I (was) hoping to get a large turnout just because we know that many more kids are going to be safe and protected in their cars,” she said.
More than a dozen participated.
During the event, three instructors worked with parents and their children’s car seats in the parking lot, inspecting the method the parents installed the seat for accuracy, and displaying how to properly lock the safety seats in the car for maximum security.
When Grand Ledge resident Kelli Aten dropped her children off at the day care center, she decided to take the opportunity to learn the best ways to install her son and daughter’s car seats.
After years of using the safety seats, Aten said she took away something new from the event — how to properly hook the anchor on the back of the safety seat to the car seat so it locks correctly.
“I definitely think all parents should go through this,” she said.
MSU Police officer Steven Beard said as child safety technicians, both he and Ivey work closely to ensure all guardians are properly equipped.
“We help each other out to make sure that if someone can’t get (a car seat) fitted, we refer them to each other to get it done,” he said. “We all work as a team to put the events on. It’s cool.”
Ivey said the team helps parents know seat laws and recommendations by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the American Academy of Pediatrics, as well Safe Kids USA.
Mickie Kreft, Safe Kids USA coordinator for Sparrow Hospital, 1215 E. Michigan Ave., said when it comes down to it, the most important thing when taking a child’s safety into consideration is to remember to simply read the instructions.
“I work with car seats every week and we always still read the manual,” she said.
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