AUBURN – The Child Health Center recent reopened the Androscoggin County Child Passenger Safety Fitting Station after being closed for the winter.

The center, in conjunction with the Maine Coalition for SAFE KIDS, offers parents and those who routinely transport children, the opportunity to have a certified child passenger safety technician evaluate the safety of their young passenger(s). Everyone who visits the fitting station also can increase their knowledge regarding child passenger safety.

Suzanne Cook, statewide coordinator for the Maine Coalition for SAFE KIDS, and Kimberly Sprague from Advocates for Children were present to inspect 10 child passenger safety seats at the first fitting station of 2004.

Cook said every one of the seats inspected had at least one error in its installation or use. She said, “In Maine 90 percent of children’s car seats are not used properly. Although proper restraint reduces the need for hospitalization in children birth to 4 years by 69 percent and decreases the risk of death by 71 percent in infants and 54 percent in ages 1 to 4, it only takes one mistake to reduce the car seat’s safety effectiveness and render a child unsafe in a vehicle.”

The Child Health Center and Maine SAFE KIDS asks parents and guardians to take advantage of the free fitting station, which is held from 2 to 6 p.m. the second Monday of each month at the Auburn Police Department.

Anyone having question regarding child passenger safety should call the center at 782-5437 or the coalition at 1-800-649-1304.