Car safety/Car seats

Car seat check-up appointments

Our staff members offer car seat check-ups by appointment only on Monday afternoons, Friday mornings and one Saturday morning per month.  To schedule an appointment, please call 773.975.8613 and leave a message.   Appointments are scheduled no less than two weeks in advance and a $25 donation is suggested.

Child safety seats

• All children ages 12 and under should ride in the back seat.
• Make sure your children are properly restrained every time they ride in the car.
• Infants must be in rear-facing child safety seats until they are at least 20 pounds and one year of age.
• Children over one year of age and between 20 and 40 pounds should be in forward-facing child safety seats or in rear-facing convertible seats if they have not reached the maximum rear facing weight.
• Children ages 4-8 (40 to 80 pounds) must be in booster seats using the car's lap and shoulder belt.
• Read the owner's manual for both your child safety seat and your vehicle for information on proper installation.
• Child safety seats are occasionally recalled so be sure to send in the seat's registration card to be sure you will be notified. You can check the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's web site at www.nhtsa.dot.gov for information on recalled seats.
• Replace any child safety seat that has been involved in a crash.

General car safety

• Teach your children that cars are not toys. Make sure they do not play in or around cars.
• Never leave your child (or pet) unattended in a car, even with the window slightly open. On a summer day, the temperature inside the car can become deadly in minutes.
• Watch children around cars, particularly when getting in and out of the car.
• Always keep doors and trunks locked.

Illinois Child Passenger Protection Act

*2003 Updates*

Effective January 1, 2004

Public Act #83-8, The Child Passenger Protective Act, has been in effect in Illinois since July 1, 1983. The law, amended effective January1, 2004, requires anyone who transports children in Illinois in non-commercial vehicles to do so in the following manner:

• Children under the age of eight years must be secured in an appropriate child restraint system, more commonly called a child safety seat. Child safety seats include infant seats, convertible seats (rear-facing for infants and forward–facing for toddlers) and booster seats that are used with the vehicle lap and shoulder belt system.
• Children weighing more than 40 pounds may be transported in the back seat of a motor vehicle while wearing only a lap belt if the back seat is not equipped with a lap and shoulder belt system for booster seat installation.
• Children and young people eight and up to 16 years of age must be secured in a properly adjusted safety belt in any position in the vehicle.
• The parent or legal guardian of a child under the age of eight years is responsible for providing a child safety seat to anyone who transports his or her child.
• Every person under the age of 18 years who transports a child eight years of age or older (up to 18 years) is responsible for securing that child in a properly adjusted or fastened safety belt or child safety seat.

Those found in violation of the law the first time will be fined $50, which is waived upon proof of an approved safety seat. Subsequent violations are punishable by a $100 fine.

Children with physical disabilities that prevent the use of standard safety seats are exempt from the provisions of the law if the disability is duly certified by a physician.