The Oak Ridge police and fire departments have teamed up with the Oak Ridge Schools’ Preschool and East Tennessee Children’s Hospital to have a quarterly child seat safety checkpoint. By mid-morning Thursday, they had replaced seven expired or damaged seats.
The Oak Ridge police and fire departments have teamed up with the Oak Ridge Schools’ Preschool and East Tennessee Children’s Hospital to have a quarterly child seat safety checkpoint.
By mid-morning Thursday, the team had replaced seven expired or damaged seats.
The free safety checkpoint continued until 12:30 p.m. Friday on New York Avenue across from the preschool. Car seats were checked and installed by certified technicians.
On Friday night, Oak Ridge Fire Department Assistant Fire Chief Josh Waldo said the team had checked 72 car seats and removed 31 unsafe seats.
“Great to know that we have made 31 kids that much safer over the past two days,” Waldo said.
On Thursday, Oak Ridge Fire Department Capt. Eric Rackard said nine out of 10 car seats are installed incorrectly, usually because the harnesses are not fitted properly or the seats are not secure.
“There’s always something that’s usually wrong,” Rackard said.
He said the checkpoint team replaces seats that need to be replaced with help from East Tennessee Children’s Hospital and a grant from Pilot Flying J.
By 10:30 a.m. Thursday, the team had checked a total of about 17 car seats, Rackard said. The technicians check to see if the seats are installed correctly and if they need to be fixed or replaced.
This week’s two-day event was at the start of classes at the preschool.
“It’s a good day for us to catch them,” Rackard said.
He said the work is a team effort between the ORFD, the Oak Ridge Police Department, and the Oak Ridge Schools’ Preschool. The preschool is located at 304 New York Ave. in Oak Ridge.
Note: This story was updated at 10:15 a.m. Saturday, July 20.
Leave a Reply