SUMMERFIELD, N.C. — A Summerfield mother is shining headlights on a dangerous reality putting children's lives at risk on the road -- car seat safety, or lack thereof.
"The next thing I knew I was getting a phone call from a firefighter who had said they'd been in an accident," said Lia Reich, as she recalled a late-August afternoon, when she hired trusted friend and graduate student Joanna Grommeck to babysit her two-year-old son.
CLOSE CALL
Summer was setting in the rearview mirror, and Grommeck and the boy were leaving a fun day at the pool.
"We were only about five minutes away from home, and all I remember is hearing a loud crash, and I had been hit in my driver's side door. I lost control of the car, and the next thing I knew, we were flipped over on the side," Grommeck recalled.
The crash report concluded another driver ran a stop sign.
"When I looked in the back seat, his face just looked stunned. He wasn't crying, and I just told him, like, 'We're gonna get out of this car.' When I lifted him out, he said, 'Fire truck!' So, I kind of new, like OK, he's OK," Grommeck exhaled.
Coincidentally, the crash happened in front of Summerfield Fire Dept., so help arrived quickly.
A MOTHER'S INSINCT
"The only physical issue that we could see with our eyes was the abrasions from the actual car seat strap sticking to his neck," Reich said.
A firefighter told Reich the unscathed car seat had not budged an inch from where she installed it in Grommeck's car that busy morning.
"I truly remember, whether it was a higher power or whatever it was in that moment, thinking, OK, hang up the phone. Make sure this (car seat) is in here the right way," she said.
It was correct, becoming the outlier in research showing four in every five car seats are not properly installed or fastened.
UNINTENTIONALLY INCORRECT
"They (car seats) can be very complicated," explained certified passenger safety technician Leigha Jordan.
She emphasized even the best parents unknowingly can make car seat errors.
"Probably the number-one mistake is that the car seat is too loose. If you can pinch it, it's too loose," she demonstrated.
Out of Moses Cone Hospital, Jordan operates Safe Kids Guilford, which -- along with Summerfield Fire Dept. -- are two of only four car seat checking stations in NC's third-largest county of Guilford.
By appointment, certified techs teach car seat safety, like ensuring the base does not wiggle, the top tether is connected, and the chest clip is at the breastbone. The process is free but entirely voluntary.
"We go through it (the install) with the parent, each step they would go through," Jordan explained.
SELF-EDUCATING ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Reich, like many new parents, sought a car seat safety check while pregnant with her oldest, but she also self-educated through social media.
She still follows accounts like Safe in the Seat (@safeintheseat), in which Florida-based mom and certified passenger safety technician Michelle Pratt has nearly a million followers for regular reels with car seat tutorials and educational information.
"I wanted to bridge the gap between all the science, technical, scary stuff and just real, everyday mom life and make it known it's possible you can do this," she explained.
She said since starting the account years ago, the feedback from her followers is what keeps her going.
"People are writing in...just giving their hero stories of how their children survived a crash, or...they weren't even aware of something until they saw it on our page...and they went and changed something, and then days later, they got in a crash," she said.
Good parents, she emphasized, can -- and do -- make missteps in car seat safety.
"It happens. It happens all the time."
A PARENT'S RESPONSIBILITY
Crashes happen here, even to families who do put safety in the driver's seat.
"You really, really believe that it's not going to happen to you and your child. Even just knowing that when you're the busiest, and you have people you trust, the responsibility is yours, as a parent, to install the car seat correctly," Grommeck said tearfully.
It is a responsibility to protect precious cargo...at all costs.
NC SEATBELT LAW
NC has three occupant restraint laws with following requirements:
- Children younger than age eight and who weigh less than 80 pounds must sit in a child restraint or booster seat. When a child reaches age eight (regardless of weight) or 80 pounds (regardless of age), he or she can use a correctly-fitted seatbelt without a car seat or booster seat.
- Children younger than age five and weighing less than 40 pounds must be in the rear seat.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends children stay rear-facing until they are at least two years old or reach the maximum height or weight limit for the specific car seat. Most pediatricians will discuss this at the child's age-two check-up.
FIND A CHECKING STATION
In NC, a car seat safety check is not a requirement for a new baby's discharge from the hospital. Cone Health directs parents to resources, like Safe Kids Guilford, where they can find certified car seat inspectors. Safe Kids Guilford operates out of Moses Cone Hospital, and the Summerfield Fire Dept. provides safety checks at its three firehouses.
It is a misconception that all fire departments offer checks. Look up a checking station in your area at Buckle Up NC. Use the Safe Kids website to verify a child passenger safety technician's certification.
WFMY hosted a 2 Cares car seat safety check on the Good Morning Show Friday, Nov. 15, in partnership with Safe Kids Guilford, Summerfield Fire Dept. and Mount Zion Baptist Church. Parents, grandparents and caretakers brought more than three dozen cars, many with multiple car seats, for safety checks and life-saving information.