As the Sacramento region struggles to address a road safety crisis, data from the California Department of Public Health show 225 hospitalizations of children under 9 years old following crashes between 2016 and 2023.
Over the last three years of available data, the number of young children visiting the emergency room in Sacramento County has risen each year: In 2023, there were 564 ER visits by kids from the Sacramento region for non-fatal vehicle crash injuries, up from 478 in 2021. Most of the injured kids were passengers in vehicles. Although it was unclear how many visits were related to car seats, the county estimated that as many as three in four car seats are being used improperly.
County staff won a $137,000 grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety to fund a “child safety seat” education program. That work will bring car seat checkups to public locations throughout the county and provide some free car seats to those in need. The program will also have a focus on the county’s immigrant populations, particularly speakers of Ukrainian, Russian, Pashto and Dari. Recent immigrants may be less familiar with car seats, and people who speak a language other than English or Spanish have fewer opportunities to learn about them…