PENSACOLA, Fla. — A new AAA study is warning that some Florida parents may be moving their children out of car seats too early \u2014 and that even parents who keep their child in a car seat may be using it incorrectly.<\/p>\n
According to AAA, 95 percent of Florida children are moved to an adult seat belt before it fits correctly. The study also found 32 percent of children had moved out of a booster seat too soon.<\/p>\n
Lt. Christopher Dennis of Pensacola Fire said children should be 2 years old and 30 pounds before they ride forward-facing, but staying rear-facing as long as possible is best.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like to explain it — think of like when the astronauts would come back in the capsule They were rear-facing because it was less impact on the body. They weren’t getting whiplash from their head, so that seat can take all the cushion and keep them safer,\u201d Dennis said.<\/p>\n
One of the biggest clues for when it is time to move a child up is where the seat belt hits, Dennis said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to make sure that the belt Comes over their shoulder in the correct place and isn’t hitting their neck and that the booster seat has it going across their hips correctly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The car seat itself can also be a problem if it is not installed properly, Dennis said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe seat itself, a lot of people worry that it’s too loose. The only area we’re really worried about is in the line of the, the path of the belt. So the only place we’re worried about is in line with the path of the belt. It shouldn’t be able to move there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
AAA found 72 percent of child restraints inspected in Florida were being used incorrectly. Dennis said proper fit includes correct chest clip placement and snug straps.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to make sure that the chest clip goes right in line with their armpits and then we also wanna make sure that it’s not too loose. So we shouldn’t be able to pinch any of the strap up whenever we grab it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Technicians at the Pensacola Fire Department offer car seat checks and installation help. To schedule a time for a car seat technician to take a look, call 850-436-5200.<\/p>\n
AAA also recommends children under 13 ride in the back seat whenever possible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PENSACOLA, Fla. — A new AAA study is warning that some Florida parents may be moving their children…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":403849,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-403848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=403848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403848\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/403849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}