How Georgia Parents Should Choose A Child Safety/Car Seat

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I recently wrote about the dangers auto accidents pose to children under the age of 12. Unfortunately, they remain the primary threat to the lives of kids between 1 and 12. Fortunately, parents can take some easy steps to safeguard their children during the ages (through 6 years old) when they are riding in car seats or booster seats. It is important to remember that Georgia law mandates that all children under the age of 6 be properly restrained in a child passenger restraining system appropriate for the child’s height and weight. O.C.G.A. 40-8-76.

There are certain keys to determining what car seat is appropriate for your child. First, discard any child safety seat that has been involved in a crash. Often, defects, cracks, etc. which develop during collisions are not capable of being seen by the naked eye. Therefore, the best and safest practice is to throw away a seat which has been in a car during a wreck. Do not sell or return the seat or else another child who later uses the seat might be in danger.

Many parents wonder what to look for when purchasing a child safety seat. I would suggest that such a purchase be made carefully and, when in doubt, spend more. There are numerous websites and magazines which exhaustively detail the qualities of available child safety seats. Healthy Children has an outstanding explanation of various car seats and age-appropriate recommendations.

Amazingly, statistics show that as many as 8 out of 10 car seats are not installed properly. This is an alarming statistic. Fortunately, there are places within Georgia where parents can go to ensure that their child seat is properly installed. http://www.seatcheck.org/ is an excellent website, which provides locations all over Georgia for parents to take their vehicles for an inspection of the child safety seat.