PUBLIC AGENCIES JOIN TOGETHER TO PROMOTE CHILD SEAT SAFETY DURING NATIONAL CHILD PASSENGER SAFETY WEEK

February 11, 2003 -- REMSA (Regional Emergency Medical Services Authority), Washoe and Clark County SAFE KIDS will host a Point of Impact child safety seat inspection and replacement program checkpoint together with Carson City Fire Department, Carson City and Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, Nevada Office of Traffic Safety and other state agencies.

Trained staff and volunteers will be inspecting child car seats for correct installation and usage to make sure all children of families in our community leave safely. Parents with children 8 years and under who participate in the car seat checkpoint will have an opportunity to register their child for a Nevada Pre-Paid Scholarship Tuition. At 10 a.m. in front of the checkpoint, Senator Dennis Nolan and Assemblywoman, Sheila Leslie will be announcing the Booster Seat Bill, which seeks to make car transportation safer for children who are above the current limits of age 4 or 40 pounds.

The checkpoint will be held on Wednesday, February 12, 2003 from 7:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. at the Sedway Parking Lot just south of the Legislative Building, between Fifth Street and Seventh Street off of Stewart, across from the Boys and Girls Club/Fire Station #1.

Vehicle belts are designed to fit an adult 80 lbs and over. When you graduate a child into a belt system prior to using a booster seat, you put them in a system that is not designed to protect the child in a crash. It is the actual placement across the neck and soft tissue of the abdomen that cause more injury because it rips and tears into the internal organs.

“ Child safety seats are a very important safety measure. Children between the ages of 5 and 9 are who we refer to as the “forgotten child, they are too small to be properly restrained with an adult seatbelt and are being killed and injured by the very belt parents assumed would keep them safe,” explains Eric Guevin, Director of Community Education for REMSA and Director of SAFE KIDS Washoe County. “Last year there were 12 deaths under age nine that were not restrained in booster seats and we are advocating that Nevada’s law be improved because this will simply save children’s lives in Nevada.”

REMSA’s Point of Impact child safety seat inspection and replacement program regularly hosts checkpoints where safety seats are inspected for correct installation and usage. Car seats and booster seats found to be unsafe or on a national or manufacturer’s recall list will be removed, destroyed and replaced at reduced costs and/or free of charge to qualifying families. This program is funded in part from the Nevada Office of Traffic Safety.

450 Edison Way Reno, Nevada 89502 (775)858-5700 Fax (775)858-5720