Courtesy photo.
CAMARILLO — Ventura County Fire (VCFD) received a $74,210 grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) to educate the community on preventing motor vehicle injuries to children, the agencies announced today.
In collaboration with Safe Kids Ventura County and Ventura County Public Health, VCFD aims to provide safety awareness and education related to child passenger safety and distribute child safety seats to income eligible families.
“Keeping your child safe while traveling in a vehicle starts with properly installing your child’s car seat, and that’s not as simple as it sounds,” Fire Chief Dustin Gardner said. “There are hundreds of models on the market and each one is different. This program gives us an opportunity to teach parents how to use the right car seat, in the right way to keep kids safe in the car.”
Grant funding will be used for a variety of activities to promote the proper use of child safety seats, including:
- Interactive car seat education
- Providing child safety seats to families meeting qualifications
- Child Passenger Safety Technician (CPST) Training courses
- Partnering with local organizations on car seat safety community outreach
According to Safe Kids Worldwide, unintentional injuries remain the leading cause of death for kids in the United States and road crashes are a leading contributor to these preventable deaths and injuries. The good news is that a properly used and installed car seat can reduce a child’s risk of serious and fatal injuries in a crash by up to 80 percent. Unfortunately, while parents and caregivers believe they have installed their child’s car seat correctly, almost half (46%) have been installed incorrectly (NHTSA).
Funding for this child passenger safety program was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
For more information, visit our website at https://vcfd.org/child-passenger-safety/.