If you have a child or a grandchild, you no doubt have experienced the frustration and exasperation that can come with trying to install a car seat in your vehicle and then strapping your baby or toddler safely into it before beginning a trip.

It’s worth all of that work — a properly installed car seat can help prevent a serious injury or save the life of your child in the event of a traffic collision, officials again are reminding us.

That’s why an event like the car seat safety day held Saturday is important.

Emergency officials agree it’s more difficult to install car seats today, with common errors including not using the chest clip correctly, not using a locking clip, failing to attach the seat tightly to the vehicle or to fasten the harness tightly around the child and not graduating children, ages 4 to 8 depending on their size, to a booster seat with seat belt.

According to TEMS Capt. Jeremiah Lucas, that’s a big issue in our region. He said that 68.7 percent of seats brought in for inspection in 2021 were improperly used, a number that has risen to 80 percent this year. Statistics surrounding the use of car seats are sobering: The National Highway Traffic Safety administration reports that in 2020, 607 children under the age of 13 died in traffic crashes. NHTSA reports 211 of those who died were unrestrained, and many others were inadequately restrained at the time of the crash.

Properly using a car seat or a booster seat can make all the difference between your child arriving at his or her destination safely. And that makes all of the effort and attention you put into your car seat worth it.