By Cherrie Anne E. Villahermosa
Variety News Staff

GOVERNOR Benigno R. Fitial yesterday designated Feb. 11-17 Child Passenger Safety Week in line with the Department of Public Safety’s mission to promote proper use of child safety seats to reduce death and serious injury among children in the CNMI.
Fitial urged all citizens, government agencies, private and public institutions as well as schools to promote and encourage the community to observe the week with appropriate programs, activities and ceremonies to increase awareness of the correct use of child safety seats to protect against risk of death or injury.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, some 7,500 lives have been saved by the proper use of child restraints during the past 20 years.
Police Officer Jarrob Manglona, chairman of the Child Passenger Safety Week activities, said the use of child passenger safety seats in the CNMI in 2005 increased compared to 2004.
Manglona said in 2004 only 40 percent of vehicles used child passenger seats. In 2005 it was 74 percent.
Manglona said their target is to increase it further this year by educating the public.
“We want to make sure that all child passengers have this child passenger safety seat so they can travel safely,” he said.
DPS has three officers on Saipan who enforce the rule on child passenger safety seats: Manglona, Officer Regino Celis and Firefighter David Yu.
Manglona said the six other certified technicians are from Rota and Tinian.
Celis, in a separate interview, said their main task is to install child passenger seats and to inspect vehicles with child passengers and see that they have them.
Violators will be fined $250 and required by the Attorney General’s Office to attend 16 hours of class.
Celis said they are distributing educational items to schools and the community to promote the program.
“We want to make sure that children are safe when they are being transported from one place to another. We also do presentations at schools,” Celis said.
Manglona said DPS, through the Office of Grants and Special Program, can assist any interested citizen in purchasing a child seat.
A qualified citizen can go to a store, ask for the price of a particular child seat and bring the child’s birth certificate, driver’s license and the vehicle’s registration to the DPS Office of Grants and Special Programs.
The office will pay up to $50 of the total cost.