Vehicle accidents are the No. 1 nationwide killer of children ages 3 to 14 and are responsible for the deaths of more children annually than all childhood diseases combined, according to carsafety4kids.com.
The Web site also says that nine out of 10 car seats used in the United States are not properly installed.
Car seat checkups are being held locally this weekend on Friday at Central Emergency Services Fire Station 1 in Soldotna from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Saturday at the Kenai Fire Department from 1 to 4 p.m.
"It's surprising to find out how many people don't do it correctly," said John Harris, a car seat technician at the Kenai Fire Department. "A lot of times they don't have the car seat in tight enough."
Car seat technicians are available around the clock at local fire departments to answer questions and check car seats.
"People just know that there are car seat techs at the fire department," Harris said. "... People will call the fire department and they can come in and we'll check their car seat.
"They can stop by 24-7. They can just call and we'll be able to do it."
Harris said that there will be extra technicians on-hand to facilitate Saturday's event.
"We'll have more people so we're able to handle a large influx of people," he said.
There will be workers available to install car seats, but Harris said that the goal of the fire department is to teach people how to install their own car seat correctly rather than installing it for them.
Hannahlee Allers can be reached at hannahlee.allers@peninsulaclarion.com
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