Safety City executive director Tom Carney looks over a car seat Wednesday afternoon at the fire station on Trans-Canada Way. The group is holding free car seat inspections every Wednesday from 1-3 p.m. at the station.--NEWS PHOTO MO CRANKER
mcranker@medicinehatnews.com @MHNmocranker
Safety City is holding free car seat inspection clinics every Wednesday with the hopes of keeping young Hatters safe when riding with their parents.
“We’re doing these inspection and installation clinics every Wednesday and we’re hoping to get the word out a bit,” said Safety City executive director Tom Carney. “We’re encouraging people to try to install their car seats and we’re offering the service to come down and have them inspected.
“If we find anything that needs to be fixed or tightened we’ll do that and if people need help with the installation we’ll help with that, too.”
Carney says an average inspection or installation will take 15-20 minutes and says it’s crucial to get car seats checked.
“I’d say 90 per cent of people do not have these seats installed correctly,” he said. “When I say that I mean they’re just not tight enough.
“People try to do it themselves and do the old college effort but it’s just not in there quite right.”
Carney says it can be very costly if the seat is not installed correctly.
“It’s always worst case scenario but injuries can happen,” he said. “If there’s a collision or a crash that happens while families are travelling you want to make sure your kids are safe where they’re sitting.
“With Christmas approaching we just want people to be diligent and safe.”
The clinic runs on a first-come, first-served basis.