CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Driscoll Children's Hospital has joined Texas Department of Transportation with its safety campaign bringing awareness to the importance of children riding in car seats, ensuring they have the right car seat for their body type and that the car seat is installed correctly.
The campaign is running throughout the entire month of September making stops in only eight Texas cities, with Portland being one of them.
"With the holidays coming up, people are driving, taking more trips, going every which way; we just need to really make sure that our children our safe," TxDOT safety specialist David Pallotti said.
This comes as data from TxDOT shows that in 2023, six vehicle crashes resulted in five serious injuries and one fatality to children under the age of eight in the Corpus Christi district.
"The State Law in Texas is until age eight, unless four-foot-nine or taller, a child must be restrained in a car seat according to manufactures guidelines," Driscoll injury prevention supervisor Amber Strealy said.
And while that is the state law, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, children should remain in a safety seat well over their eighth birthday.
"It's typically the average 10 to 12-year-old, that still needs to be in a booster seat," Strealy said. "So, we see a lot of kids come in at five and six years old not in a booster seat, but they really need to be in a booster seat a lot longer."
Also included in the data summary from TxDOT were four additional crashes with children ages 8 to 12 years old. Out of those crashes, two children lost their lives.
Pallotti says many times, the proper positioning of the car seat can play a factor in life saving efforts.
"Try to make out your car seat's weight in the position that you're using before you make that change to forward facing, because rear facing, protects the head neck and spine."
If you do find yourself in an accident, check with your car insurance about a free replacement.
"What car seat manufactures do is they decide if a car seat has to be replaced after every accident, or if it can be used again after a minor accident," Strealy said. "So, we encourage parents and caregivers to check their user manual."