I Passed!

It was 4 long days, especially the last two, but I passed my course and am now a Certified Child Passenger Safety Technician.

The first two days were mostly classroom instruction and demonstration, with a couple of trips out to the cars to identify the different types of safety equipment and to learn and practice installations. Friday was half a day of instruction and half a day of hands-on skill assessments.

Today was our public seat safety check. It was 98 degrees out and the check was held in the parking lot. With the heat from the pavement and the sun, it had to be closer to 105 inside the cars as we worked on the seats. I was involved with 4 inspections, including 2 convertible seats, 1 infant seat, and 1 belt positioning booster. It was a great chance to make sure I felt comfortable with all kinds.

Hopefully what we did today will save one of these children from injury if they are involved in a crash. We replaced 5 or 6 seats that were not safe for the kids to even ride home in, and fixed the installation of many more that were not installed correctly. My first check this morning was a 10 month old who was already forward facing in his seat, with loose harness straps and the seat had too much slack. I felt really good watching him drive off with his parents, safely harnessed, rearfacing.