2-15-24 Police Checking Child Safety Seats in Hilo This Saturday

Hawai‘i Police Department
Traffic Services Section
Torey D. Keltner, Program Manager
Phone: (808) 961-2305

Media Release

As part of Hawai‘i Police Department’s (HPD) ongoing efforts to ensure keiki safety on our island roads, HPD will conduct a combined DUI check point / child safety seat inspection clinic on Saturday, February 17, 2024, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. on Kalanianaole Street in Hilo.

While conducting the DUI checkpoint, officers will also be looking to see that children are properly restrained in a child safety seat or restraint for their size and age. Parents whose kids are not properly restrained will be directed to inspection stations where certified technicians will assist them. 

“We’re dealing with a one-two punch in which child traffic fatalities are increasing across the country, yet compliance with properly restraining kids in cars is low,” said Torey Keltner, program manager of HPD’s Traffic Services Section.

Nationwide, the average number of children killed every day in traffic collisions has been rising in recent years. In 2021, the most recent year for data available from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), a total of 1,184 children were killed in traffic crashes, an eight percent increase over the 1,101 keiki killed in 2020 traffic crashes. The number of children who died while riding unrestrained in vehicles also increased from 38 percent in 2020 to 40 percent in 2021.

Locally, a 2022 University of Hawai‘i annual assessment showed that only 36 percent of toddlers were properly restrained in child safety seats in Hawai‘i.

“It’s alarming that so few keiki here in Hawai‘i are properly restrained in child safety seats,” said Keltner. “Hawai‘i Police Department is committed to ensuring that children in our community are the safest they can be while traveling our island roads.”

NHTSA estimates that correctly used child safety seats can reduce keiki traffic fatalities by 71 percent for infants under a year old and 54 percent for children age one to four years old.

“Traffic crash injuries to children can have life-long consequences and are easily preventable by the use of properly installed child safety seats,” added Keltner.  

If you have any questions about installing a child safety seat, please contact the district police station nearest you. A list of police stations can be found on our website, https://www.hawaiipolice.com/contact-us/police-stations.