New York State Police Host Free Car Seat Safety Checks

Jack Eves: [00:00:00] X101 Always Classic Jack here in the studio. And
joining me today is Trooper Anthony Grigoli and Trooper Aga Tinker of
Troop C of the New York State Police, and it’s good to see you guys.
Trooper Aga Tinker: Good to see you as well.
Trooper Anthony Grigoli: Well, Jack, thanks for having us.
Jack Eves: Yes, of course. And, you know, upcoming this week, there’s
gonna be some Free Car Seat Checks coming up.
Trooper Grigoli, you want to give us some insight on that?
Yep. We’re gonna having, a Free Car Seat Checks, no appointment
necessary. Uh, It’s preferred, but it’ll just come down and see us. So
we’re gonna go through the car seat’s installation, Okay.
Trooper Anthony Grigoli: How secure your child is in the car seat. And
also check for any expirations, any recalls.
So we’ll be doing that
Jack Eves: And those will be coming up on Wednesday, September
24th at SP Homer, right across the street from the Homer High School
from 3 to 7, and then also on Saturday the 27th at Christian Assembly of
God. That’s at 175 Port Watson Street in the City of Cortland from 10:00
AM to 2:00 PM And you know, it’s a good highlight too with, especially
with car seats.
’cause some people, you know, they buy a car seat. [00:01:00] They’ll
just put it in thinking it’s already good and they just have to clip it when
really there’s more checks than that, right?
Trooper Anthony Grigoli: Correct. Yeah. installing it correctly is only
part of it. That’s what we’ll check at our Car Seat Checks. We’re also
gonna check how the child fits in the car seat as well with the harnesses.
If there’s a five point harness, wanna make sure the harness is correctly
on the child.
Jack Eves: Okay.

Trooper Anthony Grigoli: Not too loose, not too tight. But also again,
like installation is just part of it. There’s so much of, expirations and
recalls. So we’re also there to talk about even the next steps and just
educate is what we’re here for.
Jack Eves: And that’s a good point to make as well for that. And you
know, car seats, they are very important to have, especially for young
children.
Trooper Anthony Grigoli: Absolutely. Absolutely. Just as important as
obviously adults, we wanna have that restraint to stay in our seating
position. Car seats are, they’re paramount in, in the safety of the child,
again, to stay in the position that they’re in and not be able to first, of
course, move around in the vehicle, which you don’t want them to, but
also in, God forbid, the event of a crash, you want it to stay in that safety
restraint.
Jack Eves: Right. Yeah. And you [00:02:00] know, it’s a, it’s a good
highlight too, to add with these car seat checks. If someone comes in
and you find that their seat’s not correct or you know, it’s recalled, it’s not
gonna be something where it’s a gotcha moment from you guys, right?
Trooper Anthony Grigoli: Oh, absolutely not. No, absolutely not. We’re
there to educate, and, make sure that you leave there, knowing more
than what you did when you came in. And also, of course, making sure
your child’s safe when they leave as well too. So it is in no way,
something that we’re gonna be reprimanding you on or giving you any
kind of. ticket, as we should say.
Jack Eves: That’s good.
Know it’s a good community service –
Trooper Anthony Grigoli: Correct.
Jack Eves: Too, for that as well. And obviously too, you know, people
see it. Maybe there’s a timeframe of, you know, forward facing or even
rear facing seats too for kids.
Trooper Anthony Grigoli: Yep. and that’s what we’ll address too. some
parents coming in with that question. when can I have my child, before
facing.

I always say that, you know, don’t, don’t rush to the next step. ’cause the
next step is less safe than the previous step. I always joke and I say, if
we could all be rear facing in the backseat, we’d all be so much safer in
the car.
So the law, of course, there’s the [00:03:00] law and there’s always best
practice. The law is being rear facing, until you’re two years old. And
once you’re two years old, you can be forward facing.
Jack Eves: Okay.
Trooper Anthony Grigoli: But what I tell the caregiver, the parent, is
that even if they’re two years old, but they still are within the height and
weight limit of the car seat, keep ’em rear facing.
Jack Eves: Okay.
Trooper Anthony Grigoli: So that’s important too.
Jack Eves: That’s important.
Yeah. And you know,and then looking at it too, trooper Tinker, you
brought up before we went on air, you know. It’s more common to see
children unrestrained, especially in our area, you know, Cortland,
Tompkins and Tioga County. And you know, looking at the statistics too
of people who have, have been cited for just having their kids under the
age of 15 improperly restrained.
It’s up there.
Trooper Aga Tinker: Yeah, I mean, just kind of touching on a point.
That you guys are already talking about, the incorrect installation
increases the risk of injury or death.
Jack Eves: That’s right. Yep.
Trooper Aga Tinker: So, and looking at the numbers, getting, you
know, serious about the numbers. I mean, we’ve seen people over the
years, statistically I kind of pulled a bunch of numbers [00:04:00] and just
in the three counties of zone three, which we’re in, last year we had 186
unrestrained children.

And then this year we’re only in September and we’re already at 125.
Jack Eves: Wow.
Trooper Aga Tinker: So it’s happening. And that’s why we have events
like this because we wanna make sure that people get their children our
precious cargo properly get to the next location that they need to get, to.
Jack Eves: Get, to get there safely, and, you know, and it’s getting
there, making sure the seat is safe, properly installed.
Your child is in the correct position as well. And again, those are coming
up this week. Folks at SP Homer on the 24th, that’s Wednesday from 3
to 7 that’s across from the Homer High School as well as Christian
Assembly of God, on Saturday at 175 Port Watson Street in Cortland
from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM Is there anything else you guys would like to
add?
Trooper Anthony Grigoli: Just I hope to see everybody there. We’ll
have giveaways for the children as well too. Again, if you can make an
appointment, great. If not, that’s no problem. If you’re just driving by and
you see that we have our signs out. [00:05:00] Stop in and, and see us.
Jack Eves: And of course Aga there’s gonna be more information too on
the New York State Police website for these.
Trooper Aga Tinker: There is. And then if you ever need to reach out to
us, reach out to headquarters and ask for traffic. Our number to SP
Sydney Headquarters is 607-561-7400, and just ask for traffic because
maybe you can’t make the event. But you can definitely have one of
them. Speak to you a little bit about what needs to get done.
Jack Eves: And that’s good to know too, guys.
Trooper Anthony Grigoli: Yes, absolutely.
Jack Eves: Thank you so much for coming in. Appreciate it.
Trooper Aga Tinker: Thanks for having us.
Trooper Anthony Grigoli: Thanks, Jack

Jack Eves: For X101, I’m Jack Eves.