HIGHWAY PATROL HOLDS “BUCKLE IN BABY SAFELY” WEEK
RALEIGH – The N.C. Highway Patrol will conduct free child safety seat clinics across the state during its seventh annual “Buckle In Baby Safely” week June 7-13, 2004. The Patrol and its parent agency, the Department of Crime Control & Public Safety, developed the BIBS program several years ago to inform parents and child caregivers about the proper way to safeguard children while riding in cars.
According to state and national child passenger safety experts, most people put their children in child safety seats when they travel. But data gathered at child safety seat clinics across the country shows as many as 80 percent of those child safety seats aren’t being used correctly.
“Parents want their children to be as safe as possible when they ride in cars, and so do we,” said CCPS Secretary Bryan E. Beatty. “But in order for the safety seat to do its job, the seat has to be properly installed.”
The object of the clinics is not to find violations and write tickets, but to teach motorists how to properly use a child safety seat.
“In North Carolina, the leading cause of death and serious injury to children after age one is trauma from motor vehicle crashes,” said Colonel Richard W. Holden, commander of the Highway Patrol. “If we can get every child secured in a properly-installed child safety seat or snugly buckled into a lap and shoulder seat belt, we will save lives and reduce injuries.”
North Carolina law requires children under 16 to buckle up no matter where they sit in a vehicle, and mandates all children under age five and weighing less than 40 pounds be buckled into a properly installed child safety seat. Safety experts say children under 12 are safest in the back seat and should never ride in the front seat of a vehicle equipped with a passenger-side airbag. Child safety seats should also be appropriate for the size and age of a child. A conviction of a child seat violation results in court fines of $125.00 and two driver’s license points placed on the violator’s drivers license.
Troopers recommend parents read the instructions that come with their child’s safety seat as well as fill out and mail in warranty information to the seat’s manufacturer. That way, if there is a safety seat recall, parents will be notified.
At the BIBS clinics, Troopers will give out a bright, orange BIBS sticker. Designed to go on the back of a child’s safety seat, each sticker is actually a form for listing vital information about the child. Police and rescue workers would need that information if a child’s caregivers were unable to speak due to a crash or illness.
The Department of Crime Control & Public Safety annually distributes educational BIBS brochures and stickers to hospital birthing centers around the state. North Carolina records more than 100,000 births each year making the BIBS education campaign a vital and ongoing project. Since 1998, the Patrol has distributed more than 500,000 BIBS brochures and stickers; has established permanent fitting stations for child restraint systems at its eight Troop Headquarters across the state; and has begun conducting classes for childcare professionals and others who want to learn the proper installation of child safety seats.
A list of BIBS clinics is attached. More information on the proper installation of child safety seats is available on the Internet at https://www.nccrimecontrol.org.
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