Greenburgh Insider: Town of Greenburgh: Important child car seat safety tips from a nationally known expert & info car seat inspections.

Greenburgh police have been helping with child car seat inspections since 1999. If you have a small child you can take advantage of this free program --first and third Saturdays of each month.

CHILD CAR SEAT SAFETY TIPS FROM A NATIONALLY KNOWN LEADER INTERVIEWED ON SOLVING PROBLEMS.

GREENBURGH POLICE OFFER FREE CHILD CARE SAFETY INSPECTIONS FIRST AND THIRD SATURDAYS.

 

Stephanie Tombrello, the Senior Program Consultant for SafetyBeltSafe USA provides families with young children with important safety tips during an interview on  my cable TV show. Stephanie, who grew up in Hastings, is the sister of the late Vanessa Merton who was very active in Hastings civic activities and founder of the Pace Law School Immigration Clinic. Her brother Robert Merton won the Nobel Prize in Economic Science in 1997. Stephanie is nationally known for leading the effort promoting child car seat safety initiatives.

 

You can watch the video here: https://youtu.be/Fjh4vCq2iVU

 

The highlights:

 

Most parents (80-90%) have installed car seats incorrectly and/or are using a faulty car seat, which could prove fatal to their child in the event of a car crash when all objects and passengers in a car fly forward with a force of their weight multiplied by the speed being driven. Choosing the right seat is the first important step – a seat that is new or not too old, has no known recalls, has no known crashes, and comes from a reputable company, and from a known seller. Then installing it correctly is essential.

 

The seat should have instructions and online videos for installing correctly, which you can review along with manufacturer information on your specific car for child safety.

 

Generally, babies and toddlers should face the rear for as long as possible (at least to age 2), and then face forward until about age 5-6, when they can transition to a booster. The booster, from at least 5 until 10-12 years old, is meant to adjust their smaller frames to match the measurements for the car’s safety features like air bags and straps.  

 

Older children can ride in a vehicle with a belt once they pass the five-step test:

1.           Does the child sit all the way back against the auto seat?

2.           Do the child’s knees bend comfortably at the edge of the seat?

3.           Does the belt cross the shoulder between the arm and the neck?

4.           Is the lap belt as low as possible, touching the thighs?

5.           Can the child stay seated like this for the whole trip?

 

Teens should stay in the back seat, where it’s safer, until they are old enough (age 15) to be beginning to need to observe the driver to learn to drive themselves. The longer they stay in the back the better.

 

If this all seems tricky, there’s help:

 

The Town of Greenburgh Police Department conducts inspections/installations the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of every month at the White Plains Subaru Volvo  Service Center, 499 Old Tarrytown Road from 11am-2pm. You can all 914-989 1650 for more infrmation about our inspection program. This program was started in 1999.

 

You can visit www.carseat.org to learn more. You can also reach out to Stephanie by emailing stombrello@carseat.org or call Car Seat.org at 800-745-SAFE

 

The “Don’t Risk Your Child’s Life’ video she mentions is available to watch on YouTube here: Don't Risk Your Child's Life

You can watch the interview with Stephanie here: https://youtu.be/Fjh4vCq2iVU

PAUL FEINER

Greenburgh Town Supervisor