More Georgia children than ever — about 95 percent — wore their seat belts or were strapped into carseats last year, but state and local public safety officials are hoping to push that percentage higher during next week’s Child Passenger Safety Week. From Sept. 18-25, various local law enforcement and child welfare agencies across the state will host seat-belt checks and carseat installations.
Programs like these have increased safety belt and carseat use from 80 percent in 2000 to close to 100 percent in some parts of Georgia.
“We have so many partners in this ­— Department of Public Health, local law enforcement agencies and hospitals — just preaching (the importance of child restraints) as hard as they can out there,” said Harris Blackwood, director of the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety.
Winder Police Chief Dennis Dorsey wants to use the week to reward kids who are already buckling up and to thank parents who’ve kept their kids safe in the car.
During every traffic stop the Winder Police Department makes next week, officers will check to see if the children in the car are buckled up. If they are, each child gets a T-shirt saying, “I got caught buckled up by the Winder Police Department,” with a seat belt printed across the chest.
Winder police officers also will be holding a child safety seat check at the Winder Police Department from noon to 4 p.m. on Sept. 24 for parents who want to make sure they have their child seats installed correctly.
Blackwood believes that at this point officers might get better results by encouraging to the kids to keep wearing their seatbelts than from just punishing parents who won’t get with the program.
While seat belt and safety seat use is higher than it has ever been, Blackwood and other highway safety officials are getting ready for a new public awareness push ­— getting parents used to following Georgia’s brand-new booster seat law.
The new law, which went into affect July 1, requires all 6- and 7-year-olds to ride in a child safety seat or a booster seat so that their seat belt falls across their bodies at the hip bones and collar bones, instead of their stomachs and necks.
Compliance with the new law has been spotty so far, Blackwood said.
For the next few months, state troopers and local law enforcement officers should be in an educational enforcement mode, gently reminding parents about the new law. Parents who get a ticket for not having their child in a booster seat over the next three months can take proof that they brought a seat back the police station to have the traffic citation erased, Blackwood said.
“We will see a decline in the number of injuries we see with 6- and 7-year-olds as a result of this booster seat bill,” he said.