VIDEO: Weโve all heard that buckling our seat belts saves lives; the same thing goes for car seats, according to Anchorage Firefighter Ryan Sharr. โThe amount of injuries that come from an improperly โ or no installation of a car seat โ is staggering,โ Sharr said.
Sharr is a car seat technician instructor at the Anchorage Fire Department. This week, he is teaching a 40-hour class on car seat installation to the newest Fire Academy grads so that they, in turn, can teach the public this important skill.
He said the once-a-year training is a proactive way to help protect children, because โ unlike seatbelts โ installing car seats can be confusing, and vary from brand to brand. โThat just means that the caregiver has tried,โ he said. โThey may have pored over that instruction manual, used the QR code, and done that for hours. And thereโs just these little things that we are learning in this class to make sure the seat fits the vehicle and make sure the occupant is safe.โ
According to the Alaska Child Passenger Safety Coalition, the help is needed. It says last year, of the more than 1,500 car seat inspections conducted statewide, 84% were found to have some form of misuse or were uninstalled upon arrival.
