The Automobile Club of Southern California will host a free child passenger safety education workshop at Glendale Adventist Medical Center on Tuesday, June 12 for parents, expectant parents and caregivers of children up to 8 years of age. A highlight of the class will be discussion of the state’s enhanced child passenger safety law that went into effect on Jan. 1 and is expected to impact more than 1.1 million children across California.

The state now requires that children under age eight must be properly buckled into a car seat or booster in the back seat of a vehicle.

The hospital is located at 1509 Wilson Terrace, Glendale. The 90-minute workshop will be held from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in the main auditorium and will focus on California’s child passenger safety laws, how to choose the proper child safety seat and how to install child safety seats from infant size to boosters.

Safety seats reduce risk of fatal injury by 71% for infants and by 54% for toddlers. Back seats increase a child’s chance of surviving a crash by 45%, according to the Auto Club. The Auto Club supported the new law.

“California’s roadways will be safer for our youngest passengers,” said Anita Lorz Villagrana, the Auto Club’s manager of community programs and traffic safety.  The upgraded law is important, she added, because 6 and 7 year old are physically vulnerable since they’ve usually outgrown their forward-facing seats but are still too small to fit properly in a vehicle safety belt.

The class is for adults only. No car seat installations in vehicles will take place.  Participants will receive take-home resources, including information on where to locate local car seat installation technicians and upcoming safety seat inspection events.

Free parking available. Class space is limited and reservations are required. To register, please go to www.AAA.com/childsafety and for more information call Lora Babilo at the Auto Club’s Community Programs and Traffic Safety office at (714) 885-2312.