D.C. is making extra efforts to get properly-installed child seats into the cars of its drivers during National Child Passenger Safety Seat week from Sept. 15 through 21.
“On Saturday, we’re going to be at the Bald Eagle Recreation Center from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. … Any D.C. resident can show up with their kiddo. They can show up and get a free car seat,” said Rick Birt, director of the D.C. Highway Safety Office.
Birt spoke to WTOP at a Monday car seat-installing event at the Department of Motor Vehicles Inspection Station.
“The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration tells us that car seats can reduce the risk of serious injury when in a crash by as much as 71%, yet nearly 75% of car seats are not properly installed,” said Birt.
Saturday’s event at the Ward 8 recreation center is not the only opportunity for D.C. drivers to obtain free car seats for their children. Second and 6th district police stations will be offering seats. And D.C.’s Department of Motor Vehicles installs car seats for free all year long.
The city partners with the Children’s National Hospital and State Farm Insurance to provide the free car seats. About 2,000 are distributed each year.
“Child restraint is very important, so in D.C., we have child restraint laws. Every child under the age of two has to be rear-facing in a car seat in their vehicle. And once they are forward-facing, they need to be in that position until they are booster seat age, which would be around 33 pounds and 3-feet-tall,” said Chenille Holloman, program manager of Safe Kids DC, a childhood injury prevention program at the Children’s National Hospital.
“It’s recommended that children are in the back seat until at least the age of 12,” she added.
Birt explained that it’s critical that drivers have the right seat for the right kid at the right time.
“It’s about making sure you have the right seat for those kiddos that are growing so fast, and transitioning them from one form of a car seat to a booster seat and making sure that, as they grow, you transition to the next stage,” said Birt.
“There’s really no excuse not to have a car seat. … We’ve got the car seats, we want kids to be in them, so they can get to where they’re going safely,” he said.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been updated to correctly identify Children’s National Hospital as one of the partners helping provide free car seats.
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