Simpsonville fire, police departments to offer free car seat inspections

City partners with Safe Kids Upstate

Simpsonville, S.C. — The Simpsonville fire and police departments will start offering free child safety seat inspections in October.

On Oct. 5 and Oct. 19, city officials will inspect child safety seats at the Simpsonville Fire Department located at 403 E. Curtis St. Officials will continue doing inspections on two Fridays each month.

In partnership with injury prevention organization Safe Kids Upstate, firefighters and officers joined forces to become nationally certified as child safety seat inspectors. Simpsonville Asst. Fire Chief Harold Nichols said the program is a service to the public to keep children as safe as possible.

“Being nationally certified through Safe Kids Upstate to inspect car seats is important to us because the car seat is the last means of protection for children in the event of a motor vehicle accident,” he said. “If just one child’s life is saved, the training and program will have been well worth it.”

Four out of five car seats in Greenville County are installed incorrectly, according to Bridgette Watson, Safe Kids Upstate program coordinator. Watson stressed the child safety seat inspections are free and encouraged caregivers to take advantage of the resource.

“It’s important to [Safe Kids Upstate] for [caregivers] to feel empowered, have that peace of mind and ensure their child safety seats are installed correctly,” she said. “Data has shown us you’re more likely than not to find something incorrect with the installation of a car seat.”

Led by the Greenville Health System’s Children’s Hospital, Safe Kids Upstate is part of the nonprofit organization Safe Kids Worldwide that is dedicated to preventing all accidental injuries, which Watson said are one of the leading causes of children’s deaths.

Safe Kids Upstate also promotes pedestrian, teen driving and fire safety, among others.

Since motor vehicle crashes are the leading killer of children under 19, Safe Kids Upstate advises caregivers with children ages 0-13 to get their car seats checked.

Watson said the training to become a nationally certified car seat technician runs eight hours per day for three days and involves learning the ins-and-outs of properly installing a car seat, information about car seats and cars in general and how to educate the public on installing any car seat in any car.

“Every car is different, and every car seat is different,” Watson said. “Car seat manuals don’t always tell you everything you need to know.”

Child safety seat inspections at the Simpsonville Fire Department are by appointment only. To schedule an appointment, caregivers can go to safekidsupstate.org/carseat and select “Simpsonville Fire Department” from the drop-down box at the top of the calendar, then select the date and time from available slots.

Safe Kids Upstate advises caregivers to bring their children to appointments to make sure the seat is age appropriate and properly fits. Appointments take 30-45 minutes per seat and includes information on correctly installing the seat.

Safe Kids Upstate asks caregivers to be on time because the waiting period for an appointment is 2 to 3 weeks.