Child Passenger Safety Week is Here, State Police Offer Tips for Proper Car Seat Safety

Jack Eves: X101 Always Classic, Jack Eves here, and joining me today is Trooper Anthony Grigoli. As it is an important week, it is Child Passenger Safety Week happening through Sunday, September 26th. Trooper Grigoli, nice to see you again, how are you?

Trooper Anthony Grigoli: Nice to see you too, Jack. Very good.

Jack Eves: You know, Child Passenger Safety Week happening, a lot of checks going on with the State Police throughout all of Troop C and in Homer on Wednesday. You know, what makes this such an important event?

Trooper Anthony Grigoli: It’s critical to the safety of the child that the seat is not only installed correctly, but also that the child is secured correctly in the seat itself. We check both those important aspects of car seat safety, but we also check any safety recalls that are on the seat. Also, something that caregivers don’t realize is how there’s also an expiration date on the car seat, which is something we also check at these events.

Jack Eves: When you’re checking vehicles that come in, what’s usually the most common mistake you’ll see with car seats that are already installed in vehicles?

Trooper Anthony Grigoli: Many can be the expiration date. I think that catches a lot of caregivers off guard—that there actually is an expiration date. Sometimes they don’t realize it, especially if they’re passing the car seat onto the next child, which is perfectly fine, but they do have to remember that there is an expiration date.

Also common is the misuse of routing of the seatbelt or the tether. Sometimes a rear-facing car seat has the seatbelt through the belt path that you would use if you were using it forward-facing. So routing of the car seat can be a common misuse.

Also, the secureness or tightness in the vehicle. Sometimes caregivers are just busy and forget to double-check the secureness or tightness of the seat in the vehicle. That’s just something they should periodically check.

Jack Eves: And when checking—especially, and I’ll bring this back up at expiration—how long does a child passenger seat usually stay good for before that expiration date hits? Or does it vary by brand, make, and all that?

Trooper Anthony Grigoli: It does vary by brand. Some are up to 10 years, some are maybe even just 6 or 7 years, but that’s something that you want to check. Just make a note of it before you install the car seat, because the labels are usually underneath the car seat or on the side where, if you had it installed, it’s something that you wouldn’t think to check. So make a note of it when you first get it.

Some car seats actually just have a manufacture date and not an expiration date, so you would just do a quick Google search to see what the expiration date is. Just make a note of that before you actually install it, and also send in the recall notification flyer that’s in there—send that in or register it online.

Jack Eves: And, you know, as you mentioned, some seats may last for 10 years, and also with kids growing up, when’s the time that a child should be facing away from the driver’s seat compared to facing forward in the vehicle?

Trooper Anthony Grigoli: The New York State law is 2 years old. So that’s the law, but what we educate on is what we call best practice. Best practice is to keep them rear-facing as long as possible, as long as the car seat allows for the child’s height and weight. Maximize that height and weight limit, and then it’s safe to turn them around.

What I always tell caregivers, an important way to look at it is that every next step that a child is in—from rear-facing to forward-facing, from a 5-point harness to just a seatbelt—is less safe than the previous stage. Don’t be in a rush to change them. I know that some caregivers and parents…

Jack Eves: That’s practical, I suppose.

Trooper Anthony Grigoli: Yeah, or sometimes the child says, “Mom, Dad, when can I turn around? I want to turn around, I want to look out the window more, I want to have a big boy seat or big girl seat.” Just tell them, “It’ll come, don’t worry.” You’ll get into the next stage, but just don’t rush into it.

Jack Eves: Yeah, and with safety for that, obviously we’ve had pretty cold mornings in the last couple of days. Kids are going to start wearing jackets and heavier wear, and that does affect the safety of some of these car seats, right?

Trooper Anthony Grigoli: It does, yes. We advise that when you put the child in the car seat, if they come out with a bulky jacket or a blanket, take those off in the vehicle. What you want to have is contact mostly with the body versus the coat. You don’t want to have any kind of barrier between the actual harness straps and the body. You want to have it as close to the body as possible.

Jack Eves: Obviously these car seats make a huge difference. In your experience as a New York State Trooper, you’ve probably seen it in vehicle accidents where a car seat saves a child’s life, and there have been situations where if the child wasn’t properly restrained, it could have been a whole different situation.

Trooper Anthony Grigoli: Unfortunately, I’ve seen both. I have seen horrific accidents where a child has walked away or been carried away by their parent where everyone was harnessed and restrained properly. But I have also seen situations where children were not properly restrained, or where children had no seat at all. Unfortunately, I’ve seen where children have been ejected from a vehicle because of misuse or no seat at all. I’ve seen both sides of it, which is why this is critical and very important to us.

Jack Eves: Yes, and I know these child safety checks are held periodically here at SP Homer. You guys really go through and double-check the seats, and most preferable is if the parent or guardian can also bring the child so you can make sure it’s properly fitted for their size.

Trooper Anthony Grigoli: Correct. One important aspect is making sure the car seat is installed correctly in the vehicle, and just as important is making sure the child is harnessed correctly. On-scene, we have a scale and tape measures to check their height and weight to make sure they are in the right seat for whatever stage they’re at. If you see our signs and drive by the station and want to have your car seat checked without the child, that’s fine, but it’s preferable to have the child, the seat manuals, and the vehicle.

Jack Eves: Is there any good contact information a parent or guardian can reach out to if they are unable to attend the event, but do have questions about a child car seat?

Trooper Anthony Grigoli: Yeah, not only for questions, but we will actually come out and check your car seat even if it’s not an event. If you call our Troop C Barracks / Troop C Headquarters at 607-561-7400, that will get you to our main dispatch. Just let them know you have a car seat question and they’ll transfer you to our Traffic Safety Office. We can meet you at one of our stations, like our Sidney Barracks, and check your car seat right on the spot. You don’t have to wait for an event.

Jack Eves: Perfect. Trooper Grigoli, appreciate it so much. Thank you so much for taking time out of your day right before our car seat check here in Homer.

Trooper Anthony Grigoli: Thanks Jack, always a pleasure.

Jack Eves: For X101, I’m Jack Eves