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Child seat clinic finds none properly installed By Dace Cochran If you�re anything like the 179 families who brought in their child�s car safety seat to be inspected Sept. 16, the child seat in your car is not properly installed. To my knowledge, not one of those 179 seats passed inspection at the inspection clinic hosted by the Medford Fire Department and presented by the Jackson County Child Safety Seat Coalition. A total of 179 seats were checked, an unofficial state record for such a clinic. Twenty-eight seats were found to be recalled or defective, and were turned in to be destroyed. Nineteen seats were furnished to qualifying lower-income families. The others, after being checked, were reinstalled. Properly. The two biggest reasons, by far, for seats failing to meet the inspection were harness straps that were too loose or in the wrong slots (82 seats) or the child seat not being secured tightly to the vehicle (35 seats.) Other reasons included the retainer clip being positioned wrong; the seat belt needing to be secured with a locking clip; the child seat facing the wrong way; and the safety belt not being routed through the correct belt path. There was even one in which the child was secure and harnessed in the child seat, but the parents had forgotten to use the seat belt to secure the child seat to the car. All in all it was a good clinic. We appreciate all the parents who took the time to come by at the north Medford Fred Meyer store and have their child seats checked. Thanks to the Medford Fire Department for hosting the event, and Dan Marcisz in particular for organizing it. The next inspection clinic is 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 21 at the Pear Tree Outlet stores. Dace Cochran, a patrol deputy with the Jackson County Sheriff�s Department, writes a column on police issues. Questions or issues you�d like to see him address? Write him in care of the Mail Tribune, P.O. Box 1108, Medford, OR 97501, or at [email protected]. Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA