SYLVANIA, Ohio — Local roads and bridges are getting a big overhaul as part of the new infrastructure bill but children also stand to benefit from the measure approved late last year
In a deeper look into the $1 trillion bill, WTOL found it offers many new ways to keep children safe.
Recently at Sylvania Fire Station No. 3, crews were busy, but not with washing their trucks or organizing equipment for the next fire call. Instead they were busy with a special drive-through event that Catherine Garner could not afford to miss.
Garner brought her two sons to the fire station for the clinic sponsored by Safe Kids Greater Toledo to make sure their car seats are installed properly.
"Absolutely, I want to make sure the children are safe in case of an accident, that they won't fly out or that the seat is secure, in its designated spot," Garner said.
At the event, parents could get a check of their children's seats from a team of trained car seat technicians. The technicians check what type of seat it is, make sure each child is in the right one based on their age and weight, and of course, that the seat is it in the car tight enough.
Properly installed car seats save lives and now the bi-partisan infrastructure bill will get that message out to more parents by funding more safety efforts.
Leaders at Safe Kids Worldwide say the bill, signed into law by President Joe Biden, makes sure kids in low-income and underserved communities will have access to child passenger safety seats and services.
Gina Veres, an injury prevention specialist for the local chapter of Safe Kids at ProMedica Ebeid Children's Hospital, said car crashes are still one of the leading causes of injuries and death for children.
"A lot of families cannot afford a car seat," Veres said. "Even if they go to Walmart of Target, they are still very expensive. And so we want to make sure that car seats are accessible for everyone."
The infrastructure bill also forces automakers to make standard a notification system that alerts that drivers have to check their back seat when they get out of the car. That way, no child is ever left behind in a hot car.
Rear seat reminders make an audible sound to remind drivers that there's a child in the back seat. Right now, new car buyers have to pay extra for the technology.
Safe Kids data shows 40 children die every year from heatstroke after being left in a hot car.
"Parents don't mean to leave them in there but our human brain is programmed to be on autopilot and that routine," Veres said.
But that routine can change on any given day when parents might have to drop off children at daycare.
"You may just be on autopilot, thinking 'I'm going right to work,' and then that's when we hear about those children who have been left in the car and have died from heatstroke," Veres added.
WTOL also discovered the infrastructure bill requies the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to upgrade the federal seat "strength standard."
Safe Kids says 50 children a year die when rear end crashes force the seat in front of them to collapse back into them. In a six-year investigation, CBS News found that more than 100 children were seriously hurt or killed in these types of accidents.
"This would be able to help find new ways to build those seats and develop them so that doesn't happen," Veres said.
The infrastructure bill also will create more protected bike paths and more trails for kids, making it safer to walk to school.
There are, however, limits to or loopholes in the infrastructure bill.
Carmakers' deadline to make the back seat warnings standard isn't until 2025. Also, regulators will get two years to come up with a new "strength standard" for those front seats.
"It is going to be a few more years down the road. They're going to only be in those new cars and not everybody can run out and buy a new car," Veres said.
Jacqueline Nichols, of Perrysburg, brought her 4-month-old son Declan to the car seat check.
She wants improvements like the back-seat warning to go beyond what the infrastructure bill requires.
When asked if it was time for carmakers to think about those things and require them, Nichols said, "Yeah that would be great, especially for the new cars that have it, but maybe they could get them in all cars."
You can contact Safe Kids Greater Toledo at Events | Safe Kids Worldwide for more safety advice for parents and information on more car seat clinics.
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