Car accidents are among the top causes of death among kids in the U.S., but experts say the risk can be reduced with proper use of restraints.

 

Child Passenger Safety Week runs through Saturday with the goal of educating parents and caregivers about proper seat-belt and car-seat use.

 

Kendell Wingrove with the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning says every 33 seconds a child age 13 or younger is involved in an auto accident.

 

“In Michigan, ten child occupants age eight or younger were killed in vehicle crashes during the year 2015 and 544 children age eight or younger were injured in vehicle crashes.”

 

Michigan law requires kids under age four to ride in a car seat in the back seat.

 

Children must also be in a car seat or booster until they are either eight years old or four-feet-nine-inches tall.

 

Wingrove says once a child grows out of a car seat or booster, seat belt use always should be reinforced.

 

And he recommends children stay in the back seat until they are at least teenagers.