Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Release #12-47

Seth Solomonow/Nicole Garcia (212) 839-4850

NYC DOT to Offer Special Car-Seat Fitting and Free, Fun Activities for Family Safety Day, Held in Conjunction With “National Seat Check Saturday”

Parents and caregivers invited to attend session on proper child safety-seat installation

The New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) is hosting free, one-on-one child safety-seat inspection and installations along with free, fun activities and prizes for all ages on Saturday, Sept. 22, 2012, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at NYC DOT’s Access Safety City facility at 672 W. 158th Street in Manhattan as part of its annual Family Safety Day. This event is designed to educate parents, guardians and caregivers about the critical importance of car seats and to provide hands-on guidance for installing them correctly. Fun activities for children and adults will help attendees learn more about safety in and around cars, and underscore the need for New Yorkers of all ages, and especially teens, to buckle up when traveling in vehicles.  Family Safety Day is timed with National Seat Check Saturday, which is part of Child Passenger Safety Week, a week-long awareness campaign highlighting the gravity of properly securing all children in appropriate safety seats, booster seats or seat belts—every trip, every time. Appointments for a seat check are recommended, although not required. Participants must bring their own seats for installation.

“We want New Yorkers of all ages to ride safe and buckle up,” said DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan. “While our streets are safer than ever, it is important for adults to help protect New York’s youngest by going the extra mile and using car seats—and using them correctly.”

At the fitting, DOT’s car-seat technicians will work individually with attendees and provide evaluations of child safety seats and train participants in their proper installation. The tutorials build on the agency’s mission to make New York City’s streets safer for everyone, especially children. The agency combines education and engineering to move closer to its Strategic Plan goal of reducing traffic fatalities by 50% compared to 2007 numbers. The last five years have been the safest in the City’s history, with last year recording the fewest traffic fatalities since record-keeping began more than a century ago.

Parents and caregivers interested but unable to attend this event can call 311 to schedule an appointment for a car-seat fitting at a later date. For more information about upcoming car-seat checks, visit www.nyc.gov/dot. For more information on Child Passenger Safety Week, visit www.nhtsa.gov/cps.

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