Parents get help buckling up

Before picking up their day-old great-grandson from a hospital, Louis and Lourane Yuse stopped by the free child car-seat clinic on Saturday.

The couple had a new car seat they wanted installed by the certified experts at the event.

“I’d like to have it done the right way, just in case,” said the proud great-grandpa.

About 70 people pulled into the Dishman Dodge parking lot in Spokane Valley during the four-hour car-seat check. Safe Kids Spokane sponsors the safety event in different locations almost every month.

At previous clinics, Spokane police Officer Teresa Fuller said, police had found as many as 83 percent of seats checked weren’t installed correctly. On Saturday, out of 79 car seats, there were 69 that had to be adjusted, she said.

“One of the things we (officers) find the most is that people misunderstand the law,” said Fuller, who volunteered at the car-seat check clinic. “I don’t want to cite people, I like to educate people. We just want kids to be safe.”

While some people were at the free clinic to make sure they had their son’s or daughter’s safety seat installed correctly for current laws, others wanted to make sure they were prepared for the laws that take effect on June 1, 2007.

The biggest changes in Washington’s child restraint laws include requirements for all children younger than 13 years old to ride in the back seat of a car, and children under the age of 8, unless they are at least 4 feet 9 inches tall, to use a child restraint system, such as a booster seat.

But on the latter law, Fuller said going with the height requirement is the safest option. Seat belts are designed for people who are at least 4 feet 9 inches tall.

Spokane resident Pat Moore was at the clinic Saturday to have his 4-year-old daughter fitted for a booster seat, but he doesn’t agree with the law.

“If I wasn’t required by law to have one, I wouldn’t,” Moore said. “I think we restrain our children too much.”

The new law does have a couple of exceptions, however. If a vehicle doesn’t have a back seat, such as a truck, the child under the age of 13 can legally ride in the front seat.

And if a vehicle is equipped with lap-only belts, it is exempt from the law requiring those under 8 years old to use a child restraint system.

Another addition to Washington’s child restraint law is that seat belts that go over the shoulder must be used correctly. They can’t be under a person’s armpit or behind their back.

Fuller suggests that adults or children who are having trouble with the seat belt rubbing against their neck should move closer to where the belt goes into the holder.