Clarksville, TN – The Citizens Police Academy Alumni provided the perfect kickoff for Child Passenger Safety Week 2017 by generously donating $1,000 worth of child safety seats to the Clarksville Police Department.
According to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) statistics car crashes are the leading cause of death for children. Every 33 seconds in 2015, one child under the age of 13 was involved in a crash.
On average, nearly 2 children under 13 were killed, and 319 children were injure every day in 2015 while riding in cars, SUVs, pickups, and vans.
From 2011, to 2015, there were 1692, 8-14 years olds killed in passenger vehicles. In 2015, the 8-12 age group had the highest number of fatalities (236) among children. In 2015, over one-third of children under 13 killed in car crashed were not restrained in car seats, booster seats or seat belts.
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has determined car seat use reduces the risk for death to infants (aged<1 year) by 71% and to toddlers (aged 1-4 years) by 54% in passengers vehicles.
Furthermore, booster seat use reduces the risk for serious injury by 45% for children aged 4-8 years when compared with seat belt use alone. For older children and adults, seat belt use reduces the risk of death and serious injury by approximately half.
The Clarksville Police Department will be partnering with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office on September 23rd, 2017 at Once Upon A Child (2728 Wilma Rudolph Boulevard #1, Clarksville) from 11:00am–1:00pm and then move to Toys “R” Us (2821 Guthrie Hwy, 1496 Mt Zion Boulevard, Clarksville) from 3:00pm to 5:00pm to offer free car seat inspections and education to the public as part of National Seat Check Saturday.
Car seats, booster seats, and seat belts are often used incorrectly, that why CPD and MCSO are hosting a car seat check event. In one recent Child Safety Seat inspection event, 16 out of 23 child car seats had an installation error or needed an adjustment to properly restrain the child in the seat.
