Two-year-old Reynolds Kakeu Wessikoaba does not like riding in a safety seat. On Tuesday morning, in a parking lot behind the 7-Eleven on Georgia Avenue in Aspen Hill she stiffened her body and screamed while a certified technician installed the car seat in her mother’s minivan.
With another baby on the way soon, Anne Marie Wessikoaba of Silver Spring made an appointment to have two safety seats installed in her van.
‘‘She’s only 2, so it is difficult,” Wessikoaba said. ‘‘This [installation instruction] is helpful. To me, this is a safer way of doing it.”
On Monday when the Maryland Child Passenger Safety Law goes into effect, children up to age 8 will have to be secured in a federally approved safety seat unless the child is at least 4 feet, 9 inches tall or weighs more than 65 pounds.
Nothing could make Emilie Crown happier. She’s the Child Safety Seat program manager for Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services.
‘‘I worked very hard on this new law,” she said about her time spent testifying and lobbying in Annapolis. ‘‘It brings Maryland up to what is considered the best practice standard for the country.”
The new law represents a change from Maryland’s previous standards, which required children up to age 6 or less than 40 pounds to use a safety seat. This previous law was enacted in 2003.
Children who had been using adult seat belts will now have to return to a booster or safety seat. The new law also extends seatbelt regulations to all vehicles on the road in Maryland, compared with the previous version that only applied to Maryland-registered vehicles.
Anne Levis, of Gaithersburg, said she wishes the law had included 8-year-olds all along. ‘‘It should even include kids older than 8,” she said. Her daughter Grace will turn 6 in December.
‘‘If an older kid has to start using a safety seat again, too bad,” Levis said. ‘‘Maybe he’s upset for a few days, but if it saves his life, too bad.”
Parents may face an unexpected challenge associated with the law change. They will have to get their 6- and 7-year-olds who had graduated from safety seats to start using them again.
Sherry Reba of Gaithersburg has a 6-year-old son. ‘‘I think it’s a good idea,” she said. ‘‘The belt would be cutting into them anyway.”
On the third Thursday of every month parents can bring their child safety seats to be inspected and properly installed for free at Fitzgerald Auto Mall in North Bethesda. Crown volunteers, usually with about 50 other volunteers from Fire and Rescue Services, Fitzgerald employees and citizen volunteers.
‘‘It’s really about helping people and keeping kids safe,” she said.
Normally 120 to 150 vehicles are inspected at each event.
On Thursday, a little more than a week before the new law takes effect, parents in minivans, sedans and sport utility vehicles crowded onto the lot to have certified technicians teach them about proper child restraints.
The number of parents getting their seats checked that day was about average, despite the coming change in the law, Crown said.
‘‘Booster seats are cheap, they’re simple, there’s really nothing to it. But it makes a huge difference,” she said.
John M Lehman, Fitzgerald’s director of safety, was there for the first safety event 10 years ago.
‘‘On that day 170 people showed up and 170 of them had installed their child’s seat wrong,” he said. ‘‘We have documented saves where police officers will tell us after an accident that a child was saved because they came to this event.”
The fine for not properly buckling a child is $48, according to the Maryland State Highway Administration.
‘‘Some of the most common problems are the safety seat isn’t tightly installed, the harness straps aren’t tight enough, or an improper seat is being used,” Crown said. ‘‘We see a misuse rate of 75 percent, and it’s not because parents don’t love their kids.”
Finding the right seat for a child and installing it properly can be complex, she said. A child’s height and weight must be taken into consideration when choosing the type of restraint system, be it booster seat or car safety seat. Also knowing where in the car is the safest place — the middle of the back seat — and which direction it should face are key, Crown said.
‘‘When I worked in the emergency services division, there was something called seatbelt syndrome,” she added. ‘‘Children would come in badly bruised across their bellies because they put the shoulder restraint behind their backs to make it more comfortable. That’s just not safe.”
She added that people in this area are fortunate to have such an active public outreach program.
‘‘There are more technicians in this county than there are in some states,” she said.
Keepingchildren safe
For more information about the nearest inspection locations, Maryland’s child passenger safety laws and loaner programs, contact Maryland Kids in Safety Seats (KISS) at 1-800-370-SEAT, or visit www.mdkiss.org.
Information on child safety seat inspections is available by calling the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service child passenger safety hotline at 240-777-2222. To schedule a safety seat inspection, call 240-777-2223.
Child safety seat inspections are conducted 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. the third Thursday of every month at Fitzgerald Auto Mall, 5501 Nicholson Lane in North Bethesda. No appointment is necessary.
Child safety seat inspections are conducted by appointment only 8 a.m. to noon Tuesdays and Thursdays and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. the first Saturday of every month at 14111 Georgia Ave. in Aspen Hill.
