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Proper seat belt usage important for safety of children

Have you taken a look at the labels on your child's car seat for weight and age requirements? If not, now is the time to do so.

Fastening your seat belt, no matter what age, saves lives.

According to the Governor's Office of Highway Safety, child safety seats reduce deadly injuries by 71 percent for infants and by 54 percent for toddlers.

Cayden Calkin is a 3-year-old who uses a forward facing car seat. His mom, Bonnie, picks him up from daycare and makes sure he knows exactly how he's supposed to be strapped in.

"We make sure it's tight enough, and do we wear it on our belly or our chest?" she asks him.

Cayden answers, "We wear it on our chest!"

There is no specific car seat that is better than the other, according to Megan McGraw, a Child Passenger Safety Technician at Navicent Health.

"A lot of people ask, 'What's the best car seat for my child?' and the answer is it's the one that your child the best, it's the one that fits your car the best, and that you can install properly each and every time," says McGraw.

She also emphasizes that it's the law and it's safest for children under the age of 13 to remain in the back seat.

"Your child is not allowed to be in the front seat until their 13th birthday. Every child 13 and under needs to be in the back seat," says McGraw.

She also says that every seat is different and to read the fine print.

"So many seats are different. You'll have to look at your manual for your car seat, you'll have to look at the actual car seat to see what your max weight limit is, so the recommendation is to keep your child in that seat until the maximum height and weight of the car seat," says McGraw.

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