Safe Kids Carbon County will offer a child car seat check from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 17 at the WMGH radio station, along Route 209 in Lansford, near the Panther Valley High School complex.

The free check will be held rain or shine.County commissioners on Thursday announced the check after they signed a proclamation recognizing Child Passenger Safety Week, Sept. 15-21.Safe Kids Carbon chapter Chairwoman Mindy Graver and state Trooper Shannon Yorke, who conducts child safety seat checks, were on hand for the proclamation.Commissioner Thomas J. Gerhard read aloud the proclamation, which says that motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for children from 1 to 13 years of age.Riding unrestrained, the proclamation says, is the greatest risk factor for death and injury among child occupants of motor vehicles, with an average of two children age 12 and younger are killed and 325 are injured in crashes.Although all 50 states required children to be restrained in motor vehicles, their safety depends upon the proper use of those restraints.According to the proclamation, properly installed and used child safety seats can reduce the risk of death by as much as 71 percent for children under age 1, and by 54 percent for children 1 to 4 years old.Children under 2 need to travel in rear-facing safety seats. Children who are 40-48 pounds can use forward-facing safety seats, and older children, between 8 and 12, travel most safely in booster seats.