May 31, 2002

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BRYAN – The parking lot was full of activity – even though the building was empty – and more cars kept pulling in as concerned parents lined up for expert instruction on the use of child safety seats.

The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), along with the Rural Passenger Safety Team of Texas Cooperative Extension and State Farm Insurance Company, hosted the recent event in the parking lot of the former Wal-Mart store in Bryan.

During the three-hour Saturday morning event, experts checked 89 child safety seats, and pulled and replaced 38 seats that had been declared unsafe, said Senior Trooper Eddie Carmon, safety education service with the DPS.

The weather was unseasonably cool, but that didn't stop dozens of area families from taking an active part in keeping their children safe. The technicians and volunteers were pleased with the turnout, Carmon said.

"We started at 9 a.m. and ended at noon," Carmon said. "There were probably 20 cars we had to turn away," because of time constraints. But before those people left, he said, "We gave them the names and numbers of people in the area who could help them."

Now some Texas children are riding safer – and their parents are breathing easier – thanks to the work of safety technicians at the recent event.

Their job is to help reduce traffic deaths.

"Across the nation, an average of six children are killed and 797 injured every day," because of improper use of child safety seats – or no use at all, said Dana Runyan, member Extension's Rural Passenger Safety Team.

"Motor vehicle crashes continue to be the leading cause of death for children," she said. "In 2000, there were 2,343 children killed (nationwide) in motor vehicle crashes. Of these fatalities, an estimated 47 percent of children under the age of 5 were unrestrained.

"Child safety seats reduce the risk of fatal injury by up to 71 percent, but only when used correctly," Runyan said. "Based on a national study, at least 80 percent of child safety seats are used incorrectly.

"At our child safety seat checkup events in rural counties, misuse runs as high as 99 percent."

To make sure child passenger safety seats are installed correctly, Runyan said, parents need to know "there's more to it than they think. They need to read the instruction booklet that came with the safety seat; read their vehicle's owner's manual. Children need to be (riding) in a child safety seat longer than parents probably assume."

Her strongest advice to parents seeking information about child safety seats is: "Use one!"

Checkup events, such as the recent one in Bryan, can provide parents with the best information about the correct use of these child safety restraint systems. Information is also available through the local county Extension office.

At the recent event, technicians from the Rural Passenger Safety Team and the DPS were joined by volunteers from State Farm Insurance, Blinn College School of Nursing, Bryan High School child development classes, Brazos County Health Department, Texas Department of Health and other agencies and individuals from the community to add a measure of safety to families' lives.

"We issued several booster seats to children (who are) in the age- and height- (and weight) range needed to be in booster seats," Carmon said. In Texas, that is children who weigh less than 80 pounds and are less than 40 inches tall.

"State Farm had (donated) 40 seats – infant seats, convertible seats (that can be used either rear-facing or front-facing), booster seats and backless boosters. I had 40 seats also."

Some combination seats, which are used in facing forward with an internal harness for children up to 40 pounds, and then as a belt-positioning booster seat, were also available, Runyan added.

"We replaced or issued about 52 seats," Carmon said.

"I (and the other officers from the DPS) wouldn't have been able to do it without the members of the Rural Passenger Safety Team," he said.