Safe Kids Week highlights booster seats

Most parents are very careful to ensure their child travels in a child safety seat when they are small. But as the child gets older, many parents move their child into a regular seat belt far too early. The focus of this year’s Safe Kids Week, May 31 to June 4, is educating parents about whether or not their child should be travelling in a booster seat.

As its name suggests, this type of car seat gives a child who’s not quite big enough to fit into a regular seat belt a "boost." Booster seats are for children that weigh over 18 kg (40 lbs.) and should be used until they are at least 27 kg (60 lbs.).

If you’re not sure if your child should be in a booster seat or in a regular seat belt, try answering these five questions about your child sitting in a vehicle using a regular seat belt:

Can your child sit comfortably with his or her back against the vehicle’s seat back?
Do your child’s knees bend comfortably at the edge of the vehicle’s seat?
Is the lap portion of the seat belt as low as possible, touching their thighs?
Does the shoulder portion of the seat belt cross the shoulder between the neck and arm?
Can your child stay comfortably seated like this for the whole trip?

If you answered "no" to any of these questions, your child should be in a booster seat. If your child moves into a seat belt too early, the seat belt won’t fit them the right way, and won’t protect them the right way. They may slip out of the buckled seat belt in a crash. Or they might receive injuries in a crash from the seat belt because it is resting across the wrong parts of their body.

The best way to ensure your child is travelling safely is to visit a free child seat safety clinic. It only takes about 20 minutes. Trained volunteers will show you how to properly install a child seat or booster seat in your vehicle. The volunteers will also help to make sure the seat is the right one for your child’s size, that it fits your vehicle and that the child is in the seat safely and securely.

You can find a list of upcoming clinics on SGI’s web site at www.sgi.sk.ca or by calling SGI’s Customer Service Centre toll free at 1-800-667-9868. For more information on Safe Kids Week, visit www.safekidscanada.ca.

Contact:

Shannon Ell
Supervisor, Traffic Safety Promotion
SGI
Regina
(306) 775-6179

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