NORTHAMPTON, Mass. (WWLP) – The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates nearly 60% of infant car seats are installed incorrectly.
Those discouraging statistics weren’t lost on the scores of parents who showed up on Saturday for the infant car seat inspection with the Northampton Health Department.
Child passenger safety technicians found many of these seats weren’t installed right at the beginning.
22News found out why this problem is so widespread and impacting so many families.
“The purpose of this event is recognizing that caregivers have a lot to learn about when they have kids, throughout the whole childhood process. All seats are extremely different, how they’re made, what their features are and how they’re installed in a car so it’s super easy as a result for caregivers to make mistakes and not even realize it,” said Vivian Franklin, Northampton Department of Health and Human Services.
There can be tragic consequences from having an improperly installed child car seat. 35% of children killed in a car crash were not properly restrained. Car crashes continue to be one of the leading causes of death for children ages 1-13.
