Sheriff's Department to host events this Saturday
Free Child Safety Seat Clinics offered
Wanda English Burnett - Editor

Knowing the difference between being properly buckled up and not being properly buckled up can be a matter of life or death, The Ripley County Sheriff's Department will be hosting two free Child Safety Seat Clinics this Saturday, November 6.

The first clinic will take place at the Sunman Volunteer Fire Department and will be held from 8:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m. In the afternoon, a clinic will be held at the Versailles Volunteer Fire Department and will be held from 1:00 until 4:00 p.m.

The Ripley County Sheriff's Department, Rescue 69, Jefferson County Health Department, the Cincinnati Children's Medical Center in Batesville, and the Pregnancy Care Center, Lawrenceburg, will have Certified Child Passenger Safety Technicians on hand to assess proper child safety seat installation. They will also give "hands-on" instruction for parents and caregivers with small children.

Sheriff Bill Davison invites parents, grandparents and caregivers of infants, toddlers and small children to stop by one of the locations and have their child safety seat inspected by one of the certified technicians.

Literature will be given out on the new booster seat law that is to take effect July 2005, as well as information on how parents may be eligible to receive a free child safety or booster seat from Project LOVE, which is a grant offered through the Automotive Safety Program.

Sheriff Davison gives parents some very important points regarding child safety seat usage:

· All children should be placed in safety seats, booster seats or seat belts - every time they ride in a car or truck.

· Children 12 and younger should be buckled up in the back seat. The front seat is a dangerous spot. Front air bags can be deployed in even minor fender-benders seriously hurting or even killing some children.

· When placing a child safety seat or booster seat in your car or truck, be sure to read the instructions so you install and use the seat correctly. Also, look at your vehicle's owner's manual to see what it says about installing and using child safety seats and booster seats.

· Children, as they grow, should progress through three types of child safety before using the seat belt alone: from rear-facing seats to forward-facing seats to booster seats.

· Infants must always be placed
in rear-facing seats until they are at least one year old and 20 pounds.

· Children between 20 and 40 pounds should be placed in forward-facing safety seats.

· When a child outgrows his or her forward-facing safety seat, use a booster seat until your child is at least 8 years old or over 4 feet 9 inches tall. Seat belts alone are made for adults.
A booster seat raises a child up so the seat belt fits. This will prevent your child from being thrown from the car, or thrown around inside it during a crash.

· Children who have outgrown booster seats must use seat belts.

· Child safety seat use plummets after age 3. In one study, one-half of 3 to 8 year old children were
not being placed in child safety or booster seats, where most of them belong.

· Small children (age 2 to 5) who are placed in seat belts rather than child safety seats or booster seats are 3.5 times more likely to be significantly injured in a crash. They are four times more likely to receive a significant head injury.

· Unrestrained children are three times more likely to be injured than those who are restrained.

· Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for children ages 4 to 14.

· Child safety seats reduce fatal injury by 71% for infants and by 54% for toddlers (1-4 years old) in passenger cars. For infants and toddlers in light trucks, the seats reduce fatal injury by 58% and 59% respectively.

· Traffic crashes have psychological as well as physical repercussions. A study in the Journal Pediatrics found that 25% of children suf
fering traffic-related injuries were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, as were 15% of their parents. This is a rate similar to that found among children exposed to violence.

The Sheriff's Department in conjunction with the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are pleased to bring these clinics to residents of Ripley County. For more information about child passenger safety, you can contact the sheriff's department at 812-689-5558 or the Governor's Council at 317-232-1295 or visit www.in.gov.cji.