Find out how to get a free car seat for children
New child safety seat law explained to parents
Wanda English Burnett - Editor

The Ripley County Sheriff's Department along with others sponsored two Child Safety Seat Clinics on Saturday, November 6. The first one was held at the Sunman fire house in the morning and the second one in the afternoon at the Versailles fire house.

While the attendance wasn't as great as the Sheriff had hoped, he noted that if they are able to make one child safe, it's worth it.

Technicians were on hand to check car seats that children were riding in and offer free ones to those who needed to update theirs.

The new Indiana Child Passenger Safety Law that will take effect July 1, 2005, was explained to parents.

The law states that children are required to ride properly restrained in a child restraint, which can include a belt positioning booster seat, until they reach their 8th birthday.

An exemption to the law is that if all lap/shoulder seat belts are being used by other children, then a child over 40 pounds may ride in a lap only seat belt without a child restraint. However, booster seats cannot be safely used with a lap only seat belt.

Children who are at least eight years old until their 16th birthday, are required to ride properly restrained in a child restraint system or seat belt in all seating positions in all vehicles. Sheriff Bill Davison explained that this means children will no longer be able to ride in the backs of pick up trucks and when they ride in the front they still have to be restrained with a seat belt.

Agreeing that the new law closes some of the loopholes the first one allowed, School Resource Officer Michael Benjamin said he hopes the new law will further protect children as they ride in vehicles.

For more information you can go to www.state.in.us/cji/child-safety/ or call 1-800-SAFE-KIDS.

Chief Deputy David Pippin noted that there are free child safety seats available at the Sheriff's Department. To find out how to obtain one, you can contact the department at 812-689-5558.

On hand to help with the event were Safety Child Restraint Technicians, Kim Maloy, Dearborn County Pregnancy Care Center; Bev Ritcher, Shannon Sarringhaus, Christina Norman, from the Cincinnati Medical Center, Batesville; Ripley County Sheriff Bill Davison, Chief Deputy David Pippin, School Resource Officer Michael Benjamin and Deputy Matron Toni Gray.

WANDA ENGLISH BURNETT PHOTO

Parents took advantage of the Sheriff's offer to have their child safety seats checked out on Saturday, November 6. Tracey Gobel of Milan, brought her children, Toria, 5, and Talon 3, to the Versailles Fire Department where technicians were on hand to check to make sure they were riding safely. Pictured checking out the seats was Jenny Frye, a paramedic with Ripley County EMS. The children received free coloring books, suckers, with information being sent home to their parents, Tracey and Todd Gobel, about the new child safety laws that will be enforced in July of 2005. When the new law is in place, all children up to the age of 8-years-old must be properly restrained either in a car seat or booster seat.