Child Safety Seats (Car Seats) Program

The Licking County Health Department provides car seats each year for low income families without child safety seats. Parents are trained on proper installation and use of the seats and the seat is properly secured in the car by a trained car safety seat  technician. Referrals for this program usually come through the Licking County Health Department's WIC program and other agencies. Seats are provided though the Ohio Buckles Buckeyes program, PRC funding through Licking County Dept. of Jobs and Family Services, and donations from local organizations.

Donations from local organizations and individuals greatly enhance our ability to provide this needed service to low income families in Licking County.

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for children in Ohio and across the country. Each year in the U.S., over 900 children ages 14 and younger are killed as occupants in motor vehicles (CDC). In 2001, motor vehicle crashes killed 47 and injured over 9,000 child passengers 15 years and younger in Ohio (Ohio Traffic Crash Reports).

From February 2001 through May 2002, the National SAFE KIDS Campaign compiled forms received from local child passenger safety checkup events across the country to determine the amount and types of child restraint misuse. The results include only seats checked at events. In Ohio, nearly 84% percent of restraints were used incorrectly, with an average of three errors per incorrectly used restraint. This slightly exceeds the national misuse percentage of 82%.

Consistent with national data and regardless of the type of restraint, the most common mistakes made include: locking clip used incorrectly, harness straps not snug and safety belt not locking car seat tightly in vehicle. The most startling figures were found when looking at rear-facing seats and forward-facing seats with harnesses.

Specific findings include:

	63 percent of children in rear-facing seats and 67percent of children in forward-facing seats were in restraints with the safety belt not locking the seat in tightly.
	66 percent of children in rear-facing seats and 66 percent of children in forward-facing seats were in restraints with loose harness straps.
	Booster seat misuse was much less, however the PCPS data above reveal that nonuse of booster seats in Ohio is a much greater problem.
	Vehicle seat belt misuse was 92.2% in the National SAFE KIDS study. This finding is significant because misuse of seat belts was related to children too small being restrained in the vehicle seat belt when they should be restrained in a booster.

For more information call (740) 349-6535