Keeping children safe while traveling is a top priority for parents and caregivers, and many times parents and caregivers ask health care providers for guidance. This annual child passenger safety hospital survey aims to assess what resources are needed to provide families with the information they need to “Make the First Ride Home and Every Ride a Safe Ride”. Please take a moment to complete the survey and help determine the resources available in Pennsylvania.

• The survey can be completed in one of two ways:
  • Online at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2025HospitalSurvey
  • Completing the survey and sending it by email to aosterhuber@paaap.org.
    • Download the survey here.

Educational Opportunities

• Guiding Them Home Safely: Child Passenger Safety for Health Care Providers: TIPP staff provide this free training on the best practice recommendations for the correct selection and use of child restraint systems. The UPMC Center for Continuing Education in Health Sciences has approved a basic child passenger safety presentation and a child passenger safety presentation for children with special health care needs:
  • 1.0 AMA PRA Category Credit^TM for Physicians;
  • One contact hour for Continuing Nursing Education and other health care professionals
    • The Medical Role in Child Passenger Safety flyer for more information.
• Child Passenger Safety Technician Certification Training: Course provides information needed to assist families in the correct selection and use of car seats. Course provides a 2-year certification.
  • Pennsylvania law, (PA Vehicle Code section 4586), provides Civil Liability Immunity for currently certified child passenger safety technicians who act in good faith and within the scope of the training. .
    • Child Passenger Safety Technician Flyer

Resources

• Educational materials that reflect the best practice recommendations for the safe transportation of children. These materials can be requested at no cost.
• Note: If you would like to have your child passenger safety materials reviewed to ensure they meet current best practice recommendations, please submit them with your survey. All submitted materials will be reviewed and you will be notified with suggestions for update your current materials.
  • Summary of Pennsylvania’s Child Passenger Protection Laws: Pennsylvania law requires hospitals, in conjunction with attending physicians, are required to notify parents of the location of car seat loan programs in the community.  (PA Vehicle Code: Title 75 § 4583: Hospital information program.) Your responses will guide the development of training opportunities and materials developed to support your child passenger safety efforts.
  • Child Passenger Safety Websites/Child Passenger Safety Materials: Websites that provide information for the safe travel for children, including passenger vehicles, and air travel. Information is also available for children with special transportation needs. A sampling of TIPP educational materials is provided that may be beneficial to staff and the families that you serve.
  • Harnessing Tips for Children-Seat Belts and Pregnancy: Sample of a recently developed flyer.
  • Car Seat-Booster-Registration-Expiration Date-Involved in a Crash: Sample of a recently developed flyer.
  • Counterfeit / Non-Compliant Car Seats – Guide to Avoiding Counterfeit / Non-Compliant Car Seats: Parents today are purchasing car seats online and there have been cases where the car seats they purchased did not meet the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 213. This flyer will help to identify these counterfeit and non-complaint car seats.
  • Additional flyers are available. TIPP has a variety of child passenger safety materials that can be requested through the TIPP website. These materials are available upon request.
  • Hospital Policies to Promote the Use of Child Restraint Systems: Sample content to consider when including child passenger safety in the hospital discharge policy. The booklet includes information on content to consider for car seat tolerance screening for high-risk infants. This sample policy complies with the guidelines provided by the American Academy of Pediatrics, Children’s Hospital Association, and the Pennsylvania Child Passenger Safety Law.

 “Love Me, Buckle Me…. Every Trip, Every Time, Every Vehicle” highlights the importance of choosing an appropriate car seat for every child and using it correctly every time. Most parents think they are using their car seats correctly to protect their children and keep them safe. Sadly, motor vehicle crashes are still a leading cause of death for children and national data indicates that 46% of car seats are misused. One of the most common mistakes parents and caregivers make is moving a child to the next car seat before the child is ready and has outgrown their current car seat. Children are best protected during vehicle travel when they are secured in a correctly installed car seat that is appropriate for their age and size.

• Recommendations are based on decades of research that have shown the safest way for children to ride in vehicles.
  • Keep children rear-facing as long as possible, up to the top height and weight allowed by their particular seats.
  • Once a child outgrows a rear-facing car seat, the child is ready to travel in a forward-facing car seat with a harness and tether. The tether is 100% essential for installing a forward-facing car seat; it keeps the seat from moving forward in a crash.
  • After a child outgrows the forward-facing car seat, the child should be buckled in a booster seat until the adult seat belt fits the child properly.
    • A children might ask to use the seat belt instead of a booster seat because it makes them feel older to ride without it, but the truth is: their safety is what matters most.
  • Once your child is ready to use a seat belt, ensure that it fits correctly, and remember that the safest place for all kids under 13 is buckled up in the back seat.

Pennsylvania’s Occupant Protection Law for Children

• All children from birth to age 4 must be secured in a car seat anywhere in the vehicle.
  • Children younger than age 2 must be secured rear-facing, until they outgrow the maximum weight and height of the car seat.
• All children 4 years of age and older, but less than 8 years, must be secured in a seat belt and an appropriate booster seat anywhere in the vehicle.
• All children 8 years of age and older, but less than 18 years of age, must be secured in a seat belt system anywhere in the vehicle.
• All drivers are responsible for securing children in the appropriate car seat, booster seat, or seat belt.

For more information about the correct selection, installation, and use of a car seat or to request materials visit www.pakidstravelsafe.org or call 1-800 CAR BELT.