When Joni Owens was pregnant with her first child, she began researching everything she could to try to find the safest car seat. Her desire led her to become a CPST (Child Passenger Safety Technician) and she now offers free car seat safety checks in an effort to help more parents utilize their car seats in the safest way possible.
“No parent intentionally puts their child in harm’s way, but car seats are a lot more complicated than people realize,” Owens said. “There are a lot more rules than people realize.”
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration sites that the rate of critical CRS (child restraint system) misuse was observed to be more than 72.6 percent.
“For me, I just learned so much and it was about being open to learning the information even if it was different than the way my friends were doing it or the way my parents had done it in the past,” Owens said. “If you look at the statistics nationwide, nearly 75 percent of car seats are being misused in at least one way. One of the main things is people are turning their children forward facing too soon.”
Owens shared her concern for Kentucky being behind on car seat laws. She said although it is legal in Kentucky to forward face the child once he or she is at least 1 year old and 20 pounds, other experts in the field advise otherwise.
“The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Safe Kids Worldwide all recommend for children to remain rear-facing until they reach the maximum weight or height limit for their specific car seat,” Owens said. “So that’s going to differ child to child, but children should be rear facing until an absolute minimum of age two.”
CPSTs like Owens are often asked by new parents what the safest car seat on the market is to best protect their children. Owens advocates that the safest car seat is one that fits your child, fits your vehicle, and is used correctly 100 percent of the time.
“You can get a car seat to rear face for 40 pounds or 40 inches for around $40 at your local Walmart, so it doesn’t have to be expensive,” Owens said.
Inspections aren’t just for newborn seats or first-time parents though. A lot of caregivers, including grandparents, have questions about when to move their child from a forward-facing harness to an adult positioning booster.
“We advocate using every stage of their car seat to the maximum limits, height, and weight, that the car seat allows,” Owens said. “With moving from the harness to a booster the absolute minimum would be age 5 and at that point, you want to make sure the seatbelt fits properly across the child in the booster because an improper seatbelt, if it’s hitting on the wrong regions of the child’s body, can do a lot of damage.”
Owens said it was important to also take into consideration the child’s maturity level and ability to remain in the proper seated position for the entire ride.
“The age group of after booster use is also commonly forgotten. They need to remain in a booster seat until they are at least 4’9 and they pass what we call the 5-step test,” Owens said. “That test includes 1) back is against the vehicle seat, 2) knees bend comfortably at the edge of the seat, 3) lap belt fits low across their hips, not their belly, 4) the shoulder belt is centered across their chest and shoulder and makes contact with their shoulder, 5) they can sit properly for the duration of the car ride. Most kids cannot pass that 5-step test until around age 10 to 12.”
Strap placements, improper harnessing, unregulated add on products, and questions about post-collision safety are all common inquiries CPSTs handle.
“A lot of people think that if their child wasn’t in the car seat when they were in the wreck, their car seat doesn’t need to be replaced but it still does because the belt path is still going to experience those crash forces weather there is a child sitting there or not,” Owens said. “The internal structures of the car seat could have still been damaged.”
Owens is one of several CPSTs in the local area. Car seat inspections are done on an appointment basis by contacting one of the CPSTs below:
Adam Johnston
Owensboro Police Department
222 E 9th St
Owensboro, KY 42303
270-993-0818
[email protected]
English Certified Technician
Joni Owens Owensboro, KY 42303
270-570-5012
[email protected]
English Certified Technician
Mike Page 222 E. 9th St
Owensboro, KY 42303
270-687-8847
[email protected]
English Certified Technician
Mike Roby Police Dept.
222 E 9th St.
Owensboro, KY 42301
270-314-2823
[email protected]
English Certified Technician
Alondra Toribio
Audubon Area Head Start
900 walnut st
Owensboro, KY 42301
270-485-6166
[email protected]
Spanish
English Certified Technician
Courtney Yerington
Owensboro Police Department
222 East 9th Street
Owensboro, KY 42303
270-687-8826
[email protected]
English Certified Technician
