Head Start programs can help prevent child injury and death by making child passenger safety part of their health and safety work. All 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico have laws to protect children riding in vehicles. Yet every year, many young children die or are seriously injured in vehicle crashes because they are not using the right car or booster seat.

Car seats are the best way to keep children safe in vehicles. They reduce the risk of death in car crashes by 71% for infants and 54% for toddlers. Booster seats reduce the risk for serious injury by 45% for children ages 4 to 8.

What Programs Can Do

Help families get the right car seats for their children.

Community partners can help families get the right car or booster seat for their child. Partner with local police, fire departments, hospitals, and other safety officials as well as with local businesses and foundations.

The best way to protect young children in vehicles is to use a car or booster seat that is right for the child’s age, height, and weight. A car seat installation expert can fit the seat in the vehicle and make sure it is correctly installed.

Share easy-to-understand information in families’ home languages.

This Car Seat Safety Checklist gives all the important facts and is available in 13 languages.

Host a Child Passenger Safety Inspection event.

A car or booster seat must be correctly installed to protect a child in a crash. Find or sponsor an event with nationally certified child passenger safety technicians (CPSTs). CPSTs can check car and booster seats in families’ vehicles to make sure they are providing the best protection.

Get staff certified as child passenger safety technicians.

Health managers and early learning program staff can become a certified CPST. A CPST is trained to inspect car and booster seats. They can answer questions about how to install a child’s car or booster seat and check to make sure it is done correctly. Applicants must take and pass a certification course and pay a small fee.

Make sure everyone knows how to prevent heatstroke.

Teach everyone in the program about the danger of heatstroke. Forgetting or leaving a child in a vehicle can cause injury or death.

Teach children about vehicle, school bus, and pedestrian safety.

If a program offers transportation, teach children to use safety restraints (e.g., seat belts, booster seat bars, etc.) and how to board and exit the vehicle safely. On a community walk, teach and practice how to safely cross the street and avoid moving cars.

Share child passenger safety tips with families to help them keep their children safe in vehicles.

Use Keeping Children Safe in Vehicles: A Guide for Families and Caregivers to help families learn how to keep their child safe in a motor vehicle. You can review this flip-chart style resource together with families. It includes talking points for staff and content for family members and caregivers to review.

You can also share these 10 tips below with families. You can use them to create a handout, include them in your newsletter, share them on social media, or plan a family education night on the topic of passenger safety.

10 Child Passenger Safety Tips for Families

1. Choose the right car seat. Your child needs the right car seat for their age and size to protect them during a crash. They will need different seats as they grow. When your child reaches the maximum height or weight for their current seat, they need a new one. Each age uses a different kind of seat:
   • Infants and toddlers: Children under 2 years old need a rear-facing car seat (i.e., they sit so they are looking toward the back of the vehicle). Some rear-facing seats are made only for infants. Babies often outgrow them at around 8 or 9 months old.  Children can then ride in rear-facing car seats made for older infants and toddlers.
   • Younger children: Forward-facing seats are best for younger children between 2 and 4 years old. They can also use convertible or all-in-one seats that can be changed from a rear-facing seat into a front-facing or booster seat as your child grows.
   • Older children: Booster seats are for older children who have outgrown forward-facing seats but are not big enough to use a seat belt. Seat belts are made for adults. Most children under 11 years old need a booster seat to safely use a seat belt.
2. Register your child’s car or booster seat to get information from the company that made it. The company will let you know if there is a safety notice or product recall for the seat your child is using.
3. Make sure you install the car or booster seat correctly. Use the vehicle’s seat belt or the LATCH (lower anchors and tethers for children) system to install the seat. Both ways are safe; you only need to use one of them. Check the seat’s directions in the manual or online.
4. Always place your child’s car or booster seat in the back seat of the vehicle. Until children are 13 years old, the back seat is the safest place for them to sit.
5. Use a car or booster seat every time your child rides in a vehicle, even on short trips. Most car crashes happen close to home.
6. Buckle up! Children are more likely to use their seat belt when you are too. Wearing a seat belt in a vehicle is also the best way for a pregnant woman or pregnant person to protect themself and their baby from injury.
7. Stay focused when you drive. Texting and other distractions increase the risk of a crash.
8. Keep children safe in and around the car by avoiding injury risks:
   • Vehicle back-over: Watch children closely when they are in or around a vehicle. Always check behind your vehicle before backing up.
   • Vehicle roll-away: Keep vehicles locked when they aren’t used. Never leave the keys where a child can get to them.
   • Trunk entrapment: Teach children that it is not safe to play in a vehicle. Lock the trunk so children do not get trapped inside.
9. Teach children how to be safe on foot by avoiding moving cars and crossing the street safely with an adult. Teach them to:
   • Recognize the colors in a traffic light and what they mean.
   • Hold an adult’s hand and look both ways before they cross the street.
   • Never run into the street after a ball or toy.
10. Prevent heatstroke. Look before you lock:
    • Leaving a child in a car, even for a minute, is never safe.
    • A child can overheat even with the windows rolled down or on a cloudy day. A child’s body can overheat five times faster than an adult’s body.
    • Always check the back seats of your vehicle before you lock it and walk away.
    • Keep a stuffed animal or other item in your child’s car seat when it is empty. Move the item to the front seat when your child is in their car seat. This can remind you that your child is riding in the back, even if they are sleeping or quiet.
    • If someone else is driving your child, or your daily routine changes, always check to make sure your child has arrived safely.

Last Updated: October 25, 2024