Keeping Kids Safe in Greater Kansas City

This website is managed by RN MPH and a certified child passenger safety technician instructor with over 20 years of experience in child passenger safety teaching, extensive experience as an injury prevention educator, and advocate.

Every day in 2023, on average, two children under 14 were killed and 345 were injured in traffic crashes while riding in passenger vehicles.

Car seats save lives

• In passenger cars, car seats reduce the risk of fatal injury by 71% for infants and by 54% for toddlers 1 to 4 years old in passenger cars. For infants and toddlers in light trucks, the corresponding reductions are 58% and 59%, respectively.
• NHTSA estimates that since 1975, child restraints have saved the lives of 11,606 children under the age of 5.
• A NHTSA study found that while most parents and caregivers believe they know how to correctly install their car seats, about half (46%) have installed their child’s car seat incorrectly. 
• There are many car seat choices on the market. So many, that many parents, grandparents, and other family members are challenged to select the right car seat for children based on the child’s age, weight, height/length, and development. Here are the basics to selecting your child’s car seat:

Select a car seat based on your child’s age and size, choose a seat that fits in your vehicle, and use it
every time.

• Always refer to your specific car seat manufacturer’s instructions (check height and weight limits) and read the vehicle owner’s manual on how to install the car seat using the seat belt or lower anchors and a tether, if available.
• To maximize safety, keep your child in the car seat for as long as possible, as long as the child fits within the manufacturer’s height and weight requirements.
• Keep your child in the back seat at least through agpe 12.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (www.nhtsa.gov) has excellent resources for those searching for the basics of highway safety – specifically child passenger safety. Here are other excellent and trustworthy websites that offer basic CPS education and information:

• NHTSA Traffic Safety Marketing https://www.trafficsafetymarketing.gov/safety-topics/child-safety/car-seats-boosters-seat-belts
• The National Safety Council’s Child Passenger Safety Learning Portal https://carseateducation.org/general-education offers education courses for all interested in keeping child passengers safe-
  • Car Seat Basics- https://carseateducation.org/product/car-seat-basics-1
  • Niños en autos calientes – https://carseateducation.org/product/ninos-en-autos-calientes
  • The NationaChildren in Hot Cars- https://carseateducation.org/product/kids-in-hot-cars
• Safe Kids Worldwide: The Ultimate Car Seat Guide. https://ucsg.safekids.org/
  • Tips for your child (a virtual method to select the right car seat for your child based on age, weight, height/length, and development – https://ucsg.safekids.org/basic-tips/buyin)g/ – (Spanish and English)
• Safe Kids CPS- https://cert.safekids.org/become-tech. You can join our CPS team – become a certified child passenger safety technician!
  • The Certification Course and all official written documentation and correspondence for CPS certification are in English.
  • In order to become a nationally certified child passenger safety (CPS) technician, you must be 18 or older and pass a CPS Certification Course. Students pass the course if they:
    • All CPS technicians must take and pass the CPS Certification Course and pay a course fee of $95.
    • attend every part of the course and
    • earn passing grades for three sets of tests:
      • written quizzes;
      • hands-on skills assessments, including a checkup event.
    • CPS technicians and instructors use their considerable knowledge and expertise at a variety of community-based activities, such as child safety seat checks, where parents and caregivers receive education and hands-on assistance.
    • CPS technicians and instructors also keep up-to-date on the latest technical information about child passenger safety through seminars and other continuing education opportunities.