This week is a great time for parents to take advantage of free car seat safety checks
Today is National Seat Check Saturday, which is part of Child Passenger Safety Week. This means there are a lot of opportunities for you to get your children’s car seats checked.
Many parents fail to fully understand how important it is to make every ride safe and sound. Car accidents are the top killer of children 1 to 12 years old in the United States, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). But Safe Kids Worldwide says correctly used car seats can reduce the risk of death by as much as 71%.
As an automobile accident lawyer, I’ve sadly been involved in cases involving children who were tragically injured or killed. And in many of these cases, car seats may have been a contributing cause. These are some of the most difficult and heartbreaking cases I’ve had.
Even when a car seat is not a contributing cause, insurance companies and defense lawyers who defend the person who actually does cause the car crash that harms the child will almost always allege the child was not buckled in properly or the car seat wasn’t installed safely. They calculate that since it’s impossible to prove whether a car seat was or wasn’t properly installed or whether the child was safely secured, they can throw it up against the wall and see if it sticks. The insurance defense lawyers hope the jury will put some blame on the parents, reducing the amount that they’re truly responsible to pay. It’s usually piling on harm upon harms for the distraught parents I help, who are already dealing with a child who’s recovering from traumatic injuries.
We cannot stop people from running red lights or driving distracted and crashing, but as parents we can do something now to improve the odds of your child safely surviving a car accident.
Take advantage of the free car seat safety checks today.
Here’s where you can find an inspection station near you: car seat inspection station locator.
Also, here’s a list of car seat check events in Michigan.
– Photo from Safe Kids Worldwide, www.SafeKids.org
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