Child Safety Seats are Wonderful

by Phil

Depending on the source, 75 to 80 percent of all child safety seats are incorrectly installed. Either way, that's a huge number. Think about that. Eight in 10 kids are riding around in a seat that can't fully protect them.

It's particularly sad when there are resources out there that will check the installation of a safety seat and verify that it's been put in correctly.

I'm particularly concerned about that this week because my family was in a car accident 4 days ago. I won't go into too many details but, like all accidents, it was really scary. While driving our prius, we were hit nearly head on by a minivan. Seeing that van coming at us was one of the most terrifying moments of my life.

After the impact, there was that dazed moment that always seems to descend during such incidents. There was a second or two where we just sat there stunned. Even our son was quiet. Then he let our a loud cry that snapped us back to ourselves.

My wife, who was driving, couldn't open her door so she climbed over the consul and out my passenger side door. We rushed to our son. I couldn't get to him fast enough.

Luckily, his car seat was installed correctly and he wasn't hurt. He was just scared and, as soon as we picked him up, he calmed right down.

A few weeks before our son was born, I called around to find a place that would check the installation of our car seat. Strangely enough, the most convenient place and time that worked was our local community college's police force. It wasn't the first place I called but some internet searches included them on the list and the officer that did it was really cool.

She was telling me various stories from the road, and, honestly, rambled a bit, while checking everything over. At the time, the meandering conversation was a bit of an annoyance. I had things to do, right? Don't we all?

But standing there with our front end smashed in, the driver side wheel well completely demolished and the car undrivable, I was glad I spent that time with the loquacious cop. It was an hour or so out of an afternoon that helped protect my son 11 months later. We all left the crash with nothing but bruises and soreness.

So if you have a car seat that you've never had checked, I urge you to call your local police department or fire station. Most of them can look it over or refer you to someone who does. Even if you think you've done it properly, remember the statistic that up to 80% of these things are put in incorrectly.

As a side note, I'm a terrible blogger because I didn't think to take any photos. That would have helped sell my argument. Ah, well. I had other things on my mind and hopefully there won't be a next time.