To get the community ready for child passenger safety week, Carlson Cares brought in car seat technicians from the Texas KidSafe Program to the Killeen area to offer free car seat inspections and education to parents and caregivers on Sept. 12. Cars lined up at the firm’s Killeen office as parents, grandparents and expecting parents patiently waited to ensure their most precious cargo was safe.
Car crashes are the leading killer of children. In fact, research shows that at least 59% of children’s car seats are used improperly. In 2017, child passengers under the age of 13 were involved in a car crash every 32 seconds.
“Some of the most heartbreaking cases we see are children coming in with severe injuries from car crashes,” said Carlson Law Firm Managing Partner Craig Carlson. “No one expects to get in the car and have a crash, but we can’t predict the actions of other drivers on the road. We want people to start asking themselves, ‘is the seat installed properly?’, ‘is my child in the right size car seat?’ these are things we don’t think about when we put our children in the car.”
Car seat technicians verified the labels, expiration date, recall status and the child’s height and weight to the recommended standards for their seats. If the tech determined the car seat was unfit for any reason, Carlson Cares provided car seats to make sure children left in a safe and secure seat.
Parents and caregivers were advised on the best practices for child car seat safety. In addition to best practice tips, event attendees received a swag bag full of car safety tools and a one-of-a-kind ‘Charlie the Remembear’ to keep in the front seat of their vehicles to serve as a reminder to check the back seat for their little ones.
In total, technicians checked 46 seats and replaced 18.
If you are interested in a car seat check, contact the Texas KidSafe Program to schedule an appointment at 888-675-0260.
