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Stafford County Sheriff's office is using National Child Passenger Safety Week, which runs through Saturday, to advertise free car seat inspections at the Humphrey building on 1225 Courthouse Road.

The Stafford Sheriff's Office gives seat inspections by appointment between 3 to 5 p.m. every Wednesday. The officer giving the inspections, Deputy Kulbeth, was certified by the Virginia Department of Health's Division of Prevention and Health Promotion, which offers a class in how to properly install car seats and the appropriate seats for a child's age and weight.

Motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death for children in the United States, according to the CDC.

According to a survey from the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration from 2015, 37.4 percent of children ages 4 to 7 in the United States were not properly restrained in vehicles. Properly used car seats can decrease the risk of fatal injuries by 71 percent for infants and 54 percent for toddlers, according to the NHTSA. Children are 59 percent less likely to be injured in a booster seat than if they were using seat belts only, according to the NHTSA.