(FORT FRANCES, ON.) – As part of the 2013 fall seatbelt campaign, the Rainy River District Detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) completed a child car seat technician training workshop with all seven participants receiving certification.
The OPP North West Region has two qualified Child Restraint System Instructors qualified under The Child Passenger Safety Association of Canada (CPSAC). Annually, these officers host certification workshops to prospective technicians who work or support children and their families.
Organizations participating in this workshop included Atikokan Native Friendship Centre, Sundog Best Start Hub, United Native Friendship Centre – Aboriginal Head Start Program, Rainy River Play School and Gizhewaadiziwin Health Access Centre.
The workshop offered a two day theory component followed by a half day practical child car seat inspection clinic. During the clinic, participants inspected over 25 child car seats and found over half of the seats to be incorrectly installed. A couple of the vehicles were observed to have children passengers but did not have any child restraint systems onboard. The technicians offered education and guidance to drivers to enable them to drive away with correctly installed child restraint systems. Together, the police and technicians are continuing to work with community partners and resources to ensure drivers have accessibility to the proper restraint systems.
The primary role of a technician is to increase community awareness and knowledge of the correct use of children’s restraint systems, seat belt systems, and vehicle occupant protection features. Also, they can conduct and/or supervise programs that require technical knowledge of children’s restraint systems, educational seminars and partner with local law enforcement personnel in traffic enforcement programs.
The OPP would like to congratulate the participants for their commitment to public safety and invite others interested in receiving this training to contact the Rainy River District OPP at (807)274-3322 or Kenora OPP at (807)548-5534 for more information on upcoming workshops.
For more information, please check out the following link:
http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/safety/carseat/choose.shtml
