Child passenger safety: By the numbers
Police and fire departments throughout the Chicago area will mark National Child Passenger Safety Week, which begins Sunday, by offering free inspections of child seats for vehicles.
According to a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration report, child safety seats reduce fatal injuries for infants in passenger-car accidents by 71 percent and for toddlers by 54 percent.
Gurnee police will inspect child seat installations today, Saturday, at the Key Lime Cover Water Park Resort. Mundelein firefighters will perform similar checks Sunday during an open house at the main fire station on Midlothian Road. The checks are free.
Illinois law is pretty strict about child safety seats. Here's a look at those rules, by the numbers.
• 8: Children under 8 years old must be secured in a safety seat. Infant seats must face the rear of the vehicle, and toddler seats must face forward.
• 4: Typically, children at least 4 years old weighing at least 40 pounds can ride in booster seats in the rear of a vehicle.
• 16: Until this age, children must wear seat belts, regardless of where they're sitting in a car.
• 18: Any passengers in a car 18 or younger must be wearing seat belts or be in car seats if the driver is 16 or 17.
• $50: The fine for a first-time violation of the state's child seat law. Subsequent violations are punishable by $100 fines.
Sources: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Illinois secretary of state's office, Gurnee police.