Child Safety

By MARLO BARNHART Staff Writer Last summer, Adam Barnhart's parents were all ready to bring him home from the hospital in a body cast when they realized there were no child safety seats for his special needs. "I was worried all the way home, just 2 1/2 miles," said Jo Ellen Barnhart, mother of the two-year-old boy. A telephone call to the Easter Seal Society in Washington County resulted in a special needs' seat being loaned to the family while Adam was in his cast.

Community Rescue Service will conduct child safety seat checks Friday from 1 to 7 p.m. at Ed's Mobile Home Supply II, 11912 Greencastle Pike, Hagerstown. Williamsport Volunteer Fire Department and the Williamsport Volunteer Ambulance Service Inc. representatives will be on hand. The ambulance and rescue workers will be at the business during its open house.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - Motorists stopped this week by Pennsylvania State Police may find the trooper handing out a stuffed elephant instead of a ticket. The troopers will be giving the toy pachyderms not to drivers, but to children correctly buckled up in vehicles, according to South Central Pennsylvania Highway Safety, a coalition serving Franklin, Cumberland, Dauphin and Perry counties. The animals, wearing "Elephants Never Forget to Buckle Up" T-shirts, are a reward to buckled up families during National Child Passenger Safety Week.

Maryland's child safety seat laws Following are Maryland's child passenger safety laws: - Any child who is under 4 years old or who weighs 40 pounds or less must be in a federally approved safety seat, according to the safety seat and vehicle manufacturer's instructions. - No one can transport a child under 16 unless the child is in a safety seat, or belted in. - Children under 16 may not ride in an unenclosed cargo bed of a pickup truck. Safety seat requirements are as follows: - Reclining infant seats for children up to 20 pounds must be rear-facing.

Child safety seat law closer to expansion By LAURA ERNDE laurae@herald-mail.com ANNAPOLIS - Maryland drivers may soon be required to strap their children in booster seats until they turn 9 or weigh more than 80 pounds. The Maryland General Assembly is on the verge of expanding the state's child safety seat law, which requires children to ride in a safety seat until age 4 as long as they weigh at least 40 pounds. The booster seat law cleared a major hurdle Wednesday when the House Commerce and Government Matters Committee voted 16-2 to send the bill to the House floor.

Washington County Sheriff's deputies will be on hand Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Valley Mall to explain and hand out literature on the changes in the Child Passenger Seat Safety laws that will become effective in October 2003. Deputy 1st Class Jim Clay said he and other deputies will be ready to answer questions at the Washington County Sheriff's kiosk at the mall. The new law for Maryland says that all children younger than 6 riding in a vehicle registered in the state of Maryland must ride in a correctly used child restraint system that meets Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.

Beginning Monday, the State of Maryland will begin enforcing new requirements concerning child passenger safety. Any child younger than 8 years old will be required to be secured in a federally approved child safety seat, unless the child is 4 feet 9 inches or taller, or weighs more than 65 pounds, according to a prepared release from the State Highway Administration. The new law also states that a person may not transport a child younger than 16 years old unless the child is secured in a safety seat or seat belt.