... reading the *National Child Passenger Safety Week* post on the Parenting Board? Lots of car seat information and resources.

By Dawnk777 on Thursday, February 12, 2004 - 11:45 am:

My kids are 14 and 11 and don't need car seats anymore. (They are always seatbelted in, though!)

By Trina~moderator on Thursday, February 12, 2004 - 12:10 pm:

Glad to hear your girls are buckled in, Dawn! You'd think that would be common sense but it amazes me how many parents allow their kids to ride totally unrestrained. Hope they don't learn how important it is the hard way.

Not all the articles and information pertain to kids in car seats or boosters.

By Fraggle on Thursday, February 12, 2004 - 12:25 pm:

I have been reading most of the the info-Thanks for posting it . My oldest DD is 4 and she is tiny for her age (32 lbs.) so I think she will be in her carseat for a while. Both girls have a convertible 5 pt. carseat (up to 40 lbs. I think).

By Christylee on Thursday, February 12, 2004 - 01:18 pm:

I have been reading it and also passing it on to my sister who is about to have to purchase a new carseat for her youngest. He will be one in May but is almost to the weight limit of his infant carrier. Thanks for all of the good information, wish I'd known about you guys when I was buying Brendan's I had a heck of a time deciding on one for him.

Christy

By Bellajoe on Thursday, February 12, 2004 - 02:06 pm:

Yep, i've read it. Thanks for the info.

By Dawnk777 on Thursday, February 12, 2004 - 02:39 pm:

My kids have always been restrained, since the day they came home from the hospital. It bothers them to see kids loose in cars and to see kids on bikes without helmets.

By Trina~moderator on Thursday, February 12, 2004 - 02:53 pm:

Christylee, I'll be adding more links that will be helpful to your sister and anyone else who is in the market for a new car seat. Keep checking.

By Amy~moderator on Thursday, February 12, 2004 - 03:14 pm:

Trina, thanks so much for your time and efforts to keep us all informed and our kids safe!

By Christylee on Monday, February 16, 2004 - 12:05 am:

Thanks, this has all been so helpful for her.

I saw something today at walmart that just infuriated me. A family consisting of twins that weren't quite two probably, a three year old, and an around six year old, a mom, and a dad all got out of a tiny Ford Ranger... None of the kids were in carseats or restrained in any way. I'm not sure, can you call the police with their license plate number and turn them in? I wrote it down but not sure. Surely you can, we report smoking cars, why not kids not in carseats? If you know the answer to this please let me know. Thanks.

Christy

By Trina on Monday, February 16, 2004 - 07:36 am:

Christy, I see similar scenarios daily. ARGH! It infuriates me as well, which is one of the reasons why I want to become a certified CPS Tech. Calling the police is an option but I would be pestering them daily. LOL! Different states have different child restraint laws and some don't even consider unrestrained kids as a primary offense, meaning the police wouldn't stop a car for that reason alone. Sad, isn't it?!

You can look up your state child restraint laws, mandates, enforcement and gaps in coverage at
SafeKids.org

Here is one of the gaps in coverage in TX:
"A driver may transport children without restraints if all other seating positions are occupied by other restrained passengers."

YIKES! Yet another example of how following the "laws" can be very dangerous. CPS Techs say, "It's not about laws it's about lives." Unfortunately many state child restraint laws don't coincide with current Child Passenger Safety recommendations.