AREA PARENTS NEED CAR SEAT SAFETY HELP.

Byline: Amy Collins Daily News Staff Writer

You'd think family-friendly Santa Clarita would score a little better than most communities when it comes to testing back-seat car seat smarts.

Not so.

There were few high marks issued at a safety fair here last week.

``I don't think any of them passed,'' said Dee Gadbury, the lieutenant governor of the Optimists Club for the Santa Clarita region.

Lillian Shaw, who ran the car-seat inspection program last week, said parents usually are pretty close, but seldom use the seats in the safest way.

``Usually 97 percent of them don't pass,'' Shaw said.

Shaw said there are three common problems with child car seats:

The seats are too loose. ``If you can jiggle it, it's too loose,'' Shaw said.

Many parents don't know how to use the locking clip. It should be fastened near the belt buckle itself to keep the buckle from sliding.

The harness is in the wrong position. It should be in the highest position for forward-facing seats.

``Any of these mistakes could cause the child injury,'' Shaw said.

Shaw will take part in another free child car seat inspection program Sunday, the Safety Belt Safe USA, at the Los Angeles Zoo from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

She said more than 60 children have been killed in air-bag related crashes, most of them in car seats.

The safest place in the car, for anyone, is in the middle of the back seat, Shaw said.

Children younger than 1 should be in the back seat of the car, with the car seat facing the rear of the car. Children older than 1 can have their seats face forward, she said.

Shaw got involved with the car safety program in 1991, before she became an Optimists member. When she joined with that group, they also adopted the car safety seat program.

Shaw has been involved in the car seat safety program since 1991 in Santa Clarita and has been doing car seat recycling since 1992, which makes used car seats available to cash-strapped parents.

She got involved as a volunteer after she found out that her own car seats weren't up to par, including one that had been recalled because of plastic deficiencies.

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Photo: (color) Jim Shaw of the Santa Clarita Valley Optimists Club examines the car seat of 6-month-old Ryan Beddeo during the club's inspection program. The free event helped parents learn the proper way to secure their children to provide the maximum safety while driving.

John Lazar/Special to the Daily News