To:Metro Atlanta Media
For Immediate Release
Paulding County Receives the 2010 Child Passenger Safety Mini-Grant
(Paulding County, GA) The Paulding County Sheriff’s Office and the Paulding County Health Department have partnered together to provide Paulding County citizens with tools and resources in an effort to improve the overall safety of Paulding’s children. The Department of Community Health’s Division of Emergency Preparedness and Response, Injury Prevention Program has announced that Paulding County will receive the 2010 Child Passenger Safety Mini-Grant.
The Child Passenger Safety Mini-Grant Program will assist local level health agencies reduce the motor vehicle related morbidity and mortality rates in Georgia’s children, according to Paulding County Health Department Nurse Manager Teresa Knight. The grant will provide funding for equipment and resources needed to inspect child safety seats and train the parents and caregivers how to properly install those seats. Funding for these efforts is provided by the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety (GOHS).
If you have noticed the many buckles, straps, and tethers on today’s child safety seat, it is easy to see why so many child safety seats are not installed correctly. “If not installed correctly, your child could sustain life threatening injuries in a vehicle crash,” said Knight.
“Car crashes remain the No. 1 killer of America’s children between the ages of 2 and 14,” said Andrew Turnage, public information coordinator with the Georgia Traffic Injury Prevention Institute (GTIPI), an outreach unit of University of Georgia's Family and Consumer Sciences Extension funded by the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety. According to GTIPI, 4 out of 5 child safety seats are NOT correctly installed.
Statistics show that children in rural areas are more likely to die from improper child safety seat use than are children from big cities. “It’s not uncommon to see children standing in the seat of a moving vehicle looking right at you through the window,” said Paulding County Sheriff Gary Gulledge. “We also see mothers holding infant babies in their arms while travelling on the roadway.” Sheriff Gulledge also noted that holding a child in your arms will not protect them in a vehicle crash. A crash at 50 MPH (5 miles below the average posted speed limit) while holding a 20-pound baby will generate the same amount of force as a 1,000 pound object.
"While more than 90 percent of parents use child safety seats, the most common thing is that car seats are not installed correctly,” said Turnage. This is something that the Paulding County Sheriff’s Office and the Paulding County Health Department are striving to change in Paulding County. The Paulding County Sheriff’s Office deputies will be training parents, grandparents, and caregivers how to properly install and use child safety seats.