This Thursday, November 19th, the public is invited to a free car safety seat installation check point at the DeFuniak Springs Chautauqua Center Campus of Northwest Florida State College on U.S. Highway 90.

The event will run from 2 p.m. - 4 p.m. in the parking lot behind building two.

This week, more than a dozen members of the Walton County Sheriff’s Office are going through child safety seat training at our Main Administrative Building. Instructors with “Safe Kids of Florida” Emerald Coast Chapter are putting on the four day class. Following the classroom instruction, the students will have to show their proficiency at actually installing the car seats.

Several studies’ has shown that 80-percent of all child car seats are misused, or installed wrong. If there’s too much wiggle room, the seat is not securely fastened with the seat belt. In addition, all child restraints have an expiration date. Most seats expire six years from the day of manufacture, although this can vary by manufacture.

For all children, the child safety seat is typically placed in the back seat. That’s because the airbags in the front seat can be too large and powerful for the relatively meager weight of a child, which can cause serious injury or death in the event of airbag deployment.

Anyone with questions, and to learn the proper way to install their child restraint seat in their vehicle should come by the Walton County Sheriff’s Office public safety event this Thursday (November 19th) at the DeFuniak Springs Campus of Northwest Florida State College. Parents need to bring their child, car seat, and their vehicle. The vehicle manual can also prove to be helpful as well.