For parents today, knowing that their child is strapped in a car seat or booster seat is essential before you head out on the road. But knowing that they are strapped in is only half the battle, making sure that the car seat or booster seat is in your vehicle correctly is the other half. So, ask yourself, do you know for sure that your child’s car seat is buckled in your car correctly to prevent any problems or injuries if you have an accident?

When you put your child’s seat in the car, you no doubt read all the instructions and made sure to do everything just like the pictures showed. But, some of the steps and pictures can get really confusing and you aren’t sure if you have the buckle in the right slot or not or the seat sitting the right way or something of that sort. You looked at the directions again, but they didn’t help either. Now what do you do?

Well, almost every police department in this country will hold free baby seat safety checks throughout the year. They will advertise them on television, radio, and newspapers as to when and where these free safety checks are. If you miss one, or still aren’t sure, you can always call your local police department and inquire when the next one is. If you find that the next free safety check isn’t for months or you just don’t want to wait, you can ask your local police department if you can have your child’s seat checked by an officer to ensure that you have it in correctly.

Normally, each department has a few officers that deal with child car seats on a regular basis and are always more than willing to help you determine if you have your child’s seat in correctly or not, and help you get it in the right way if it isn’t. So, when you call your local police department, they will be able to tell you when and where you can meet an officer to ensure that your child’s car seat is in the car correctly.

There are also other organizations that will help you determine if your child’s car seat is in the car correctly. The Red Cross and Salvation Army are two that also hold different events throughout the year to help parents determine if they have their child’s car seat in correctly or not and help them fix the problem if it’s not in right. If you don’t know where or when any of these other events are, you can contact these organizations directly to find out when or where you can have someone check your child’s car seat.