Car Seat and Child Passenger Safety in the Car

Find a car seat inspection station near you. Safe Kids Denver Metro coalition affiliated agencies provide car seat education and inspection throughout the Denver metro area where you can talk to a certified technician to help you with your car seat installation. For additional inspection/fit stations, visit Car Seats Colorado.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), approximately 7,500 lives have been saved by proper use of child restraints during the past 20 years. Yet, motor vehicle crashes still remain the number one killer of children ages 4 to 14 years in America . The reason? Too often it is the improper use or non-use of child seats and booster seats.

• 4 Steps for Kids (.pdf)
• Car Seat Safety Tips (.pdf)
• Colorado's Child Restraint Law English (.pdf) Espanol (.pdf)

In 2005, on average five children ages 14 and younger were killed and 640 were injured in motor vehicle crashes every single day. Approximately 120 children are hospitalized at The Children's Hospital in Denver  each year and almost half are unrestrained and another 25% are improperly restrained.

While 98 percent of America ’s infants and 93 percent of children ages 1 to 3 are regularly restrained, not enough children ages 4 through 7 are restrained properly for their size and age. Only 10 to 20 percent of children ages 4 through 7 who should be using booster seats to protect them are actually in them. But children ages 4 to 8 who are placed in booster seats are 59 percent less likely to be injured in a car crash than children who are restrained only by a seat belt, according to a study by Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).

For maximum child passenger safety, parents and caregivers simply need to remember and follow the 4 Steps for Kids:

• For the best possible protection keep infants in the back seat, in rear-facing child safety seats, as long as possible up to the height or weight limit of the particular seat.  At a minimum, keep infants rear-facing until a minimum of age 1 and at least 20 pounds;
• When children outgrow their rear-facing seats (at a minimum age 1 and at least 20 pounds) they should ride in forward-facing child safety seats, in the back seat, until they reach the upper weight or height limit of the particular seat (usually around age 4 and 40 pounds);
• Once children outgrow their forward-facing seat (usually around age 4 and 40 pounds), they should ride in booster seats, in the back seat, until the vehicle seat belts fit properly. 
• Seat belts fit properly when the lap belt lays across the upper thighs and the shoulder belt fits across the chest (usually at age 8 or when they are 4’9” tall);

To find a certified child passenger safety (CPS) technician that can help you correctly install your child’s car safety seat and answer questions about child safety seats, go to www.carseatscolorado.com and click on “Events” or call 1-877-LUV-TOTS (1-877-588-8687).