YOUNGSTOWN Expert: Buckling up kids will save lives, cut injuries

Failing to restrain children is a violation that results in an automatic fine.
By MARALINE KUBIK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A 5-year-old boy killed in a traffic crash last week might have survived if he'd been buckled up.
Using child safety seats "certainly would have reduced the number of injuries and, in my opinion, prevented the fatality," said Lt. Mark Milstead of the Youngstown Police Department and lead investigator in the May 25 crash that killed Alexander Rodriquez.
Milstead made the statement during a child safety-seat demonstration at the police department Tuesday morning after the arraignment of Myra Hernandez, who was charged with vehicular homicide in the death of her son Alexander.
Alexander was one of eight children riding unrestrained in a seven-passenger minivan when it was hit broadside by another car May 25 on the city's North Side.
Although none of the children was ejected, their bodies were thrown throughout the van, causing them to slam into one another and the interior of the vehicle on impact, Milstead said.
Alexander was seated in the third seat with four other unrestrained children, including two 3-year-olds who, by law, must be restrained.
Ohio law mandates that children 4 and younger and children weighing 40 pounds or less be restrained in child-safety seats.
Next step up
When children outgrow safety seats designed for infants, "they should be restrained in a booster seat that boosts them up so that the vehicle's lap and shoulder belt fit properly," said Tracy Styka, certified child passenger safety technician at Forum Health Tod Children's Hospital.
Failing to restrain children younger than 4 and those weighing less than 40 pounds is a primary violation that results in an automatic $30 fine plus $60 court costs in the city, Milstead said.
Older children, like adults, must wear lap and shoulder belts while riding in the front seat. Failure to comply with those regulations is a secondary offense, which means officers are forbidden from making traffic stops unless they witness other violations.
Free child-safety seats are available to families eligible for the Women, Infants and Children program through the Ohio Buckles Buckeyes project. For more information, call (330) 884-4030.
Child safety-seat clinics, which teach drivers how to properly install the seats, are held regularly throughout the region.
The next one will be 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at Bob Eddy's Chrysler Jeep in Austintown. Each inspection will last 30 minutes. For an appointment, call Kelly Eddy at (330) 792-5221.
kubik@vindy.com