CPD Performing Car Seat Safety Checks Saturday For National Safety Week

This is National Child Passenger Safety Week.

The Cookeville Police Department will perform free child safety seat checks Saturday. Sergeant Joey Williams said the best way to decrease potential injury to your child in an auto accident is to use the correct safety seat and ensure proper installation.

“When we perform child safety seat check points and community events, we tend to see that 50 percent of the children that show up are not in the correct type of child safety seat,” Williams said. “It may not be harnessed correctly or may not be positioned correctly in the vehicle.”

Williams said the safety checks will be held at Cookeville Life Church from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Williams said traffic officers are also available on request during regular business hours to install a new car seat.

“The most common mistake that child safety seat technicians see care givers make when they use one of those safety seats is not ensuring the harness is properly positioned on the child,” Williams said. “When you don’t ensure the harness was snug and that the top buckle is positioned high on the chest, it is going to lower the protective potential.”

Williams said statistics show that car seat use reduces injury by up to 82 percent compared to children using a seat belt. Booster seats for children ages four to eight-years-old increases safety by 45 percent, Williams said.

Williams said state law requires children under nine-years-old or under 4’9″ to be in a child safety seat.