Safe Kids Buckle Up Van

In 2005, Safe Kids Elkhart County was proud to introduce one of several new Mobile Car Seat Checkup Vans to its list of services.

Currently, there are more than 119 Mobile Car Seat Checkup Vans located throughout the United States. The vans are manned by certified child passenger safety technicians and stocked with portable items needed to set up a temporary inspection station. The vans travel to reach people not currently served by an inspection station. The motto still applies, "Children leave safer than when they arrive!"

Why it's important :
Riding unrestrained is the single greatest risk factor for death and injury among child motor vehicle occupants. Among children ages 14 and under killed in motor vehicle crashes as occupants in 2002, 50 percent were not using safety restraints at the time of the collision. 

Misuse is common. An estimated 85 percent of children who are placed in child safety seats and booster seats are improperly restrained. Misuse includes, but is not limited to, using an inappropriate seat for a child's age and size, placing an infant under 1 year or under 20 pounds in a forward-facing seat, not securing the seat tightly in the vehicle and not securing the child correctly in the seat.

The back seat is safest. It is estimated that children ages 12 and under are up to 36 percent less likely to die in a crash if they are in a rear seat of a passenger vehicle.

Please use the forms section for more information about policies or to request a Mobil Car Seat Checkup Van.