It is National Child Passenger Safety Week for the month of September and parents and caregivers are attending safety seat check events in the Midlands.
/ MGN
COLUMBIA (WACH) - It is National Child Passenger Safety Week for the month of September and parents and caregivers are attending safety seat check events in the Midlands.
The South Carolina Department of Public Safety (SCDPS) says nine children under the age of six were killed and another 9,300 were injured in motor vehicle collisions in South Carolina last year.
During this National Child Passenger Safety Week, The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) held a child safety seat inspection Wednesday afternoon from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Palmetto Health Children's Hospital.
Another free event will be held Friday afternoon from 1 p.m. until 4 p.m. at Jones Chevrolet on Broad Street in Sumter for parents and caregivers to check the installation of their child safety seats.
Trooper Brent Kelly with the South Carolina Highway Patrol says many people do not realize how to properly install a child safety seat.
"It's more than people realize to put in a car seat and have it installed properly," said Kelly. "These events are important for those who may not know how to properlly install [a car seat] and we can show them how to do it. [Parents] might have it in there the wrong way, and just because they think it's buckled in the right way a child could be seriously injured if not killed [if the seat is not checked]."
The safety seat checks come after DHEC conducted a Child Passenger Safety Technician training class in Sumter thanks to a grant from the SCDPS.
SCDPS Director Leroy Smith says motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for children ages 1 to 12 years old.
According to Smith, many tragedies involving children can be prevented if children are restrained properly.
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