Safe Kids of Otsego County will have certified child passenger safety technicians available to provide hands-on instruction on installing car seats and booster seats from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Southside Mall on state Route 23 in Oneonta.
The event is in conjunction with the Bassett Healthcare Family Health & Wellness Expo at the mall.
Safe Kids will also provide resources on child passenger safety and their interactive booklet "Safety in and Around Motor Vehicles," as well as Halloween and pedestrian safety resources.
According to McCaffery and Vesely, these guidelines should be followed for maximum child safety while riding in vehicles:
Keep infants in a back seat, in rear-facing child safety seats, as long as possible. Never turn a child forward-facing before age 1, and at least 20 pounds.
When children outgrow their rear-facing seats, they should ride in forward-facing child safety seats in a back seat.
Once children outgrow their forward-facing seats, they should ride on booster seats in a back seat until the vehicle seat belts fit properly.
Seat belts fit properly when the lap belt lays across the upper thighs, the shoulder belt rests on the shoulder or collar bone and the knees bend naturally at the seat's edge.
After children fully outgrow their booster seats, they should use the adult seat belts in a back seat.
Safe Kids is a member of Safe Kids Worldwide, a global network of organizations dedicated to preventing accidental injury. Safe Kids of Otsego County was founded in 2000, and is led by Bassett Healthcare.
For more information, contact Rich McCaffery at 547-5256 or richard.mccaffery@bassett.org, or visit www.safekids.org.
