MONROE, CT — Dylan Brito, 6, was correctly secured into a child safety seat in back of his mother’s white SUV in the Monroe Town Hall parking lot Saturday morning, as Monroe police officers and Rosangela Heredia, an instructor with Yale-New Haven Hospital, ran a free child safety seat clinic.
“This is helpful,” said Jessica Brito of Monroe, Dylan’s mother. “I came years ago, when my oldest son was younger and I did learn a couple things.”
Brito’s older son, Nathan, is now 14.
“I think it’s great,” she said of the free clinic. “It’s always helpful to make sure car seats are installed correctly.”
It was close to 11 a.m. and six families had participated in the annual clinic, which went on from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Monroe officers participating as instructors included Det. Stacy Cascante, Det. Francisco Jimenez and officers Omar Wahib and Helder Dos Santos.
Among the most common mistakes parents and guardians make when it comes to child safety seats is not choosing the appropriate seat for their child and facing the seats forward, before they are age appropriate, according to Heredia.
“In Connecticut a child should be two-years-old and 30 pounds,” she said of facing forward, “and 90 percent of car seats in Connecticut are installed incorrectly.”
Heredia said it is also common for older children to sit in the front seat before it is safe to do so.
“There’s no law on when a child can sit in the front seat, but airbags are too strong for them when they’re not developed enough yet to sustain the impact, so they can get hurt badly,” she explained.
Experts say a child should be able to sit in the front seat after age 13, but Heredia said she believes that could also be too young.
Another safety measure parents can take is to avoid having a lot of loose items in their vehicle, because Heredia said the items could become projectiles during a crash.
For example, she said a five pound item in a crash at 25 mph would have a 125-pound impact.
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, of the 25,420 passenger vehicle occupants killed in traffic crashes in 2022, 756 were children and, of those young passengers, 266 were unrestrained.
“Child safety seats have been shown to reduce fatal injury by 71 percent for infants under 1 year old and by 54 percent for toddlers 1 to 4 years old in passenger cars,” according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. “For infants and toddlers in light trucks, the corresponding reductions are 58 percent and 59 percent, respectively.”
Appointments available
Monroe Police Sgt. Helio Ramalhete, who is in charge of the clinic, said those who could not make it to Saturday’s clinic can call the Monroe Police Department at 203-261-3622, tell the dispatcher they are calling about child safety seat inspections and installments, and someone will call them back to set up an appointment.
Ramalhete said child safety seats are available to replace seats that are broken or not the right size. Any families who cannot afford to buy a child safety seat should email the police department prior to making an appointment at [email protected], and a seat will be provided.
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