Child Passenger Safety Week may have just wrapped up but it’s important for all of us to make sure children are property secured when riding in our vehicles.

Guthrie County Hospital Clinics Director Tina Nourse says often times, parents and those who care for children forget how guidelines on just how long kids should be in a car seat.

“In the state of Iowa, the law states that infants less than a year and less than 20 pounds need to be rear facing.  Research has really shown that the longer you can keep a child rear facing, the safer they are in a motor vehicle accident” says Nourse.

And once they grow out of that, kids still need to be in a special seat for several years.

“Once they outgrow the rear facing seat, they can ride in a forward facing child safety seat.  That’s usually up to the age of four or around forty pounds.  Then when they graduate from that, the state requires them to be in a booster seat and they should be in that until they outgrow the booster seat, usually they say until about age eight or nine.  It’s basically when the lap belt or the seat belt can lay across the upper thighs and the shoulder fits across the chest, then they can graduate to just using a seat belt.”

The Guthrie County Hospital Clinics have a certified child passenger safety seat technician on staff.

Anyone who needs more information is encouraged to contact a local clinic or police department.