A health professional’s role is to coach and support parents in learning about car seats and booster seats. Health care professionals should know that seat belts are designed to fit adults, not children. Using a car seat properly can reduce the risk of injury by up to 82% and risk of death by up to 71%.

It is the driver’s responsibility by Alberta law to ensure that passengers under 16 years of age are buckled up correctly. For children under 40 lbs (18 kg) and under 6 years of age, the law states the following:

• An appropriate child safety seat must be used.
• The child safety seat must be correctly installed in the vehicle.
• The child must be properly secured into the seat.

Provincial Injury Prevention (PIP) promotes supporting parents to use the resources available to install and use their child's car seat or booster seat correctly for every ride.

These resources include:

• the instructions that came with their car seat or booster seat.
• the instructions contained in their vehicle owner's manual.
• Car Seat Guidelines in Alberta

This approach allows parents and caregivers to learn to use their car seat or booster seat safely before, or instead of, seeking out inspection by a certified technician.

Key Messages

Car Seat Stages

There are three basic types or stages of car seats for children:

1. rear-facing (car seat and child faces the back of the car)
2. forward-facing (car seat and child faces the front of the car)
3. booster (booster seat and child faces the front of the car)

Many seats combine more than one stage. It is safest to keep a child in each stage for as long as possible. See Car Seat Guidelines in Alberta for car seat and booster seat resources and videos in many languages.

For information on how to secure a preterm or low birth weight baby into a rear-facing car seat, refer clients to Preterm or Low Birth Weight Babies and Rear-facing Car Seats.