Parents buckle-up for Child Passenger Safety Week campaign

Today marks the start of the national campaign to keep young kids safe from injury during possibly fatal car crashes.

The national Highway Traffic Safety Administration is reminding everyone during Child Passenger Safety Week to keep young kids in car seats if needed since it said car crashes are the leading cause of death for kids between one and 13 years old.

This statistic does not surprise Idaho State Police Sargent Mike Winans, who said he has seen fatal car crashes involving children who were not buckled-in properly.

“It is one of the saddest things I have had to deal with in my law enforcement career,” Winans said. “It’s responding to a crash where a child has been injured or has died.”

Winans said seat belts are not designed for children.

“If you put an adult seat belt on a kid, you will see the seat belt wraps around their neck, or they will take the lap or shoulder belts and put it somewhere and it does not sit properly,” Winans informed.

The Department of Transportation suggests infants less than one year old and under 20 pounds should be in a rear-facing car seat. Kids between 20 and 40 pounds should be in a safety seat with a harness system. However, kids between the ages of four and six years old should be in a booster seat.

Winans also noted it is Idaho law that kids under the age of six need to be in some form of a safe car seat.