See, I’ve never actually used a child safety seat, but if there’s one thing I can tell from all the various reports I’ve read about them, they’re unnecessarily complex. Either they are, or the laws governing them are, because people have to go to preposterous lengths to make sure they’re installed “correctly”.
Not long ago I described how the Pennsylvania State Police were running a child seat inspection campaign, and now I hear that Washington, D.C., will be running a similar campaign. Here’s what one of the attendees had to say:
“I’m almost flabbergasted,” the D.C. resident said Tuesday as she stared at the newly installed seats. “After having five kids, I’ve been through the process of getting a seat and having it inspected. But I didn’t know a lot of the things I learned today.”
Five kids. Five kids and five installed car seats later, and suddenly she’s learned more in one day than several years of actual experience. There’s no other explanation–these seats must be ridiculously overcomplicated.
There’s got to be a way to make these things simpler and easy for already badly overworked parents to cope with.
Tags: car seat, child safety seat, Pennsylvania state police, Police, washington d c
