PARISH – Did you know that a child’s car safety seat has an expiration date just like that gallon of milk in your refrigerator?
Well it does and if the seat your child is using is expired it can be more dangerous than drinking that expired milk.
The Altmar-Parish-Williamstown transportation department conducted a Child Safety Seat Inspection in cooperation with the Oswego County Traffic Safety Board and New York State Police.
They checked and replaced, if necessary, nearly two dozen seats for safety and proper installation.
The safety seat inspectors worked with parents to determine whether their child’s seat was safe and then checked to ensure that the seats were properly installed and the correct one for their child.
Many factors can undermine the integrity of a child safety seat: extreme heat and cold, age, if the seat was involved in an accident, even if it appears that the seat did not suffer any visible damage it could still have tiny defects that may not be easily detectable.
If you are not the original owner of the seat, such as purchased second-hand at a sale or flea market, you have no way of knowing if the seat is safe to use.
According to Nathan Metcalf, transportation supervisor in the APW District, this car seat safety check was the largest one the Oswego County Traffic Safety Board has held so far this year, indicating the importance of this event.
Of the more than two dozen seats inspected, only four were found to be safe and properly installed.
For more information about car safety seat inspections, contact Metcalf at the APW Transportation Department at 625-5242.
