Parents Get Car Seat Safety Tips from Local Experts

Dozens of parents and grandparents lined up their cars Saturday morning at to have their child safety car seats checked by experts.

Assemblyman Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, hosted the on a first come-first serve basis in cooperation with local agencies, including the CHP and Safe Kids Santa Clara County/San Mateo County through Packard Children’s Hospital.

A whopping 80 percent of child safety seats are installed or used incorrectly, according to Benjamin Arias, coordinator for Safe Kids Santa Clara County/San Mateo County.

“We just do the session, the inspection and give the parents some education and hope the parents learn something. There’s a lot of misinformation out there,” Arias said.

At the beginning of the day and with a line already forming, he said he expected about 40 cars by morning's end.

“I learned you have to make sure they’re still good enough to use,” said Anau Vehikite, a San Mateo grandmother of six who came to have her car seats checked.

Jose Curincita of the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office said a car seat is not acceptable to use after six years.

“It begins to show some wear and tear, like the straps will no longer be flat,” Curincita said.

“It’s not your fault,” Curincita said to Vehikite. “It’s a good thing you came to have the seats checked and now you know.”

There were 10 certified technicians Saturday from agencies including Menlo Fire, CHP, Burlingame Fire, and the San Mateo Police Department, and most volunteered their time, according to Arias. He said it takes a full workweek to become a certified technician and there were senior technicians that checked the work of others on Saturday.

One of the most common mistakes made is that the belt is not strapped to the car seat correctly, according to Trish Tice, a senior technician at the event and school people transportation safety coordinator with the CHP.

Tice said another common mistake is adding toys and blankets to the car seat. She said blankets should not go between the child and straps because “all that cushioning adds space, allowing more internal injuries to happen if in a collision.”

Unsecured toys, groceries and other items in the car are also hazards.

“We learned having loose stuff like groceries near the car seat is no good because it could fly around and hit them,” said Jose Ruiz, a San Mateo parent.

Several agencies host car seat check events throughout the year in cooperation with Safe Kids, according to Arias. Parents can also make free appointments with Safe Kids at Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford by calling 650-736-2981 or contacting the CHP at its Redwood City office.