I’m going to show my age here…I was small long before there were mandatory child safety laws. I actually remember being a small child and riding in the front seat, standing up!

While many of experience nostalgia for the past, this is one time that things are much better and safer for our little ones than they used to be.

Can you imagine your child in one of these?

Or how about this one? While it’s better than the one above (maybe?) it’s still not very safe~

In 1985 the first Child Passenger Safety laws were passed. The car seats started looking more like what we see today, but had a long way to go.

Safe Kids Southwest Florida has these tips:
Best practice found in NHTSA’s National Child Passenger Safety Certification Training Program recommends booster seat use for children who have outgrown child restraints with harnesses prior to moving into a seat belt alone.
Children seated in a booster seat in the rear of the car are 45 percent less likely to be injured in a crash as compared to those using a seat belt alone.
Back to 2!
Parents are reminded to keep their toddlers in a rear-facing car seat until age 2 or until they reach the maximum height and/or weight for their car seat. This information was recently published in an updated policy statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). Additionally, research in a 2007 study published in the journal Injury Prevention showed that children under 2 years old are 75 less likely to die or be severely injured in a crash if they are riding rear-facing.
4 – 7 YearsKeep your child in a forward-facing car seat with a harness and tether until he or she reaches the top height or weight limit allowed by the car seat’s manufacturer. Once your child outgrows the forward-facing car seat with a harness, it’s time to travel in a booster seat, but still in the back seat.8 – 12 Years
Keep your child in a booster seat until he or she is big enough to fit in a seat belt properly. For a seat belt to fit properly, the lap belt must lie snugly across the upper thighs, not the stomach. The shoulder belt should lie snugly across the shoulder and chest and not cross the neck or face. Remember: your child should still ride in the back seat because it’s safer there.
Here are phone numbers of places that will do free inspections!

Lee County

Gulf Coast Medical Center
(239) 343-5803

The Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida
(239) 343-6199

Cape Coral Hospital
(239) 573-3098

Estero Fire District
(239-390-8000

Ft Myers Police Dept
(239) 321-7700
(Officer Lesa Breneman)

Collier County

Collier County Sheriff’s Office
(239) 252-0367

The Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida
(239) 565-8371

Children’s Advocacy Center
(239) 263-8383 ext 232