This rear-facing car seat for toddlers, endorsed by child safety advocates, is not yet available in the U.S. Photo by Courtney Veaunt

Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Traffic Safety Education Program kicked off National Child Passenger Safety Week, Sept. 12–18, with a press conference and special recognition of over 30 agencies that have supported the ongoing education of child passenger safety in Livingston County. The press conference and recognition event was held at Noyes Memorial Hospital in Dansville on Sept. 14.

Included among the agencies recognized at the event were Noyes Memorial Hospital, Livingston County’s Traffic Safety Board, Livingston County Sheriffs’ Office, New York State Police and Livingston County Highway Department for their ongoing support.

Several other agencies were also recognized for their continued support of Child Passenger Safety in Livingston County.  A special appreciation luncheon was held after the press conference for all of the Child Passenger Safety Technicians.  See complete list of recognitions below.

The purpose of this week-long public education campaign is to educate parents and anyone who transports children in an automobile, to the dangers of moving a young child to a front facing car seat too soon, explained June Webster, coordinator of the Traffic Safety Education Program at Cornell Cooperative Extension and Safe Kids Livingston County Chapter. This year’s theme is “Step One: Face the Rear – More than A Year” Campaign Promotes Safety Measures to Protect Infant Passengers.

Rear-facing child safety seats are proven life savers – reducing the the risk of death by 71 percent for infants riding in passenger cars. Motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of hospitalizations and emergency department visits for children under one year of age in New York State, Webster reported.

Jim Peralta, founder of www.joelsjourney.org is a strong proponent of rear facing car seats.  HIs 18 month old grandson was seriously injured in 2008 in a car accident. Peralta gave his personal story at the press conference of how his grandson met the weight recommendations for a front facing car seat yet still suffered a broken neck and other serious injuries from the impact of the crash.

The Livingston County Sheriff’s Office, New York State Police and Livingston County Cornell Cooperative Extension will be conducting a Child Safety Seat Checkpoint and providing Operation Safe Child ID’s at Noyes Memorial Hospital on Sept. 19 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.  The public is welcome to come and have their child safety seats checked and get Operation Safe Child ID’s for their children.

Complete story appears in our Sept. 17 print edition.

Special Recognition was presented to the following agencies:

• Livingston County Sheriff’s Office: Sheriff John York, Instructors Deputy Chichester and Deputy Applin

• Livingston County Traffic Safety Board: Chairman Walt Purtell

• New York State Police: Sergeant Joan Lutz, Trooper Page, Trooper Sick, Trooper Brown and Trooper Bianchi

• Livingston County Highway Department: Superintendent Don Higgins, Shop Supervisor Mike Gridley

•Noyes Memorial Hospital First Step Program: Patty Piper and Heather Wagner

Recognition of Partners in Child Passenger Safety

• Bob & Sue Mills, TRIAD
• Arc of Livingston County, Fitting Station, Advisory Board
• Avon Police Department, Fitting Station
• Caledonia Police Department, Fitting Station
• Chances and Changes, Fitting Station
• Geneseo Migrant Center, Fitting Station
• Mt Morris Police Department, Fitting Station
• Nunda Police Department, Fitting Station
• Spring Water Fire Department, Fitting Station
• Genesee Valley BOCES, Advisory Board
• Genesee Valley Health Partnership, Advisory Board
• Livingston County Youth Bureau Advisory Board
• Geneseo Police Department Advisory Board
• Wentworth Motors, CPS, Activity Location
• Dalton Bus Garage, CPS Activity Location, Advisory Board
• New York State Highway of Transportation, CPS Activity Location
• Dansville Fire Department, CPS Activity Location
• Lima Highway Department, CPS Activity Location
• Avon Fire Department, CPS Activity Location
• Caledonia Fire Department, CPS Activity Location

Active CPS Technicians in Livingston County

Avon Police: Pete Henry, Joe Geer

Caledonia Police: Dan Chapman

Geneseo Police: Jeff Szczesniak, Dan Piedmonte, Dave Beers

Livingston County Sheriff’s Office: Phyllis Applin-Instructor, Gene Chichester-Instructor, Cory Noto, Robert Halbert

Mount Morris Police: Ken Mignemi: Mark Brado

New York State Police: Mike Page, Steve Sick. John White, Craig Bianchi, Nicole Cowdrick, Brian Bernard, Robert Brown

Nunda Police: Chief Jeff Wilcox

Tagged as: Cornell Cooperative Extension Service, Dansville area, Noyes Memorial Hospital