JaRylan
New member
I posted this elsewhere but then I thought I should probably post it here too and I can't think of anything new to say so it will be pretty much the same as what I already posted, lol.
We had 3 instructors for 14 people - 5 RCMP (police), 3 public health nurses, 1 rehab worker, 3 from the summer Safety Squad (youth that travel the province in a lime green van all summer long holding carseat clinics), the young guy who drives the Safety Squad float in all the parades in all the small towns all summer long and me.
They didn't go into the benefits of extended harnessing or extended rfing (at least not as much as I would have liked). Everything seemed to be about making sure people know what is the minimum for each stage.
We did do a fair bit of hands on with seats on both days. The second day they had us install seats in our vehicles and then check our installs, then they sent us in for a break and when we came out they had "creatively" installed all of the seats that they had to see if we could catch the misuse.
One AOE did not have the straps threaded over the bar correctly. I caught that one and I think it impressed the young girl I was working with (heck, I impressed myself, lol), also that I could rethread the seat harness without the manual. I wish they would have covered more of the common misuse errors specific to certain popular seats (like the AOE harness over the bar and top position only for head rest).
The course was held at the SGI (provincial insurance) salvage yard. They broke a back passenger window and back window to show us the safety glass. During the smashing they put one of the window cling sun blockers on the window and using it would possibly prevent as much glass from flying into the back seat in a crash. Detonated a driver air bag (generation 1) and passenger airbag (generation 2). Had to do them upside down so they only went about 10 feet into the air, if it hadn't been windy they would have faced them up and gone about 40 feet skyward.
I know the one thing that I am really going to have to work on is explaining everything. The instructors were impressed with how much I knew about things but I said that remembering to explain why I know it or how to do it can be hard when it is second nature to me. I also need to work on my infant seat installs...it has been way to long since I have had to worry about one.
What I was most surprised about is that Saskatchewan does not have a booster law. Reason given is that the average age of vehicles in this province is 11 years, thus a lot of lapbelts are still in use and to make it mandatory to use a booster would really be difficult for a lot of families to follow the law. They also still "recommend" a no-back, swing-arm shield booster (with the belt on the outside) as a last resort in a situation with no best solution (only lapbelts). You do have to remain harnessed to 40lbs though (and luckily we have seats that harness to 48lbs). Hopefully when the new higher weight limit comes in and approved seats are available some of this will be solved by people realizing they can harness past the current 48lbs...of course then they will have to buy another seat...and if they don't have the money in the first place...sigh.
I have to finish my exam this weekend and send it in early next week. Is the Canadian test always an open book, take home, 75 questions test?
Once I am certified I plan to volunteer at any carseat check that I am able to attend. I'll probably print up some business cards and hang out in the carseat aisle more, lol. There is a tech locator website being put in place so that people can phone for seatchecks and I will be listed on there. I will continue to annoy all my friends.
Thanks for reading!
We had 3 instructors for 14 people - 5 RCMP (police), 3 public health nurses, 1 rehab worker, 3 from the summer Safety Squad (youth that travel the province in a lime green van all summer long holding carseat clinics), the young guy who drives the Safety Squad float in all the parades in all the small towns all summer long and me.
They didn't go into the benefits of extended harnessing or extended rfing (at least not as much as I would have liked). Everything seemed to be about making sure people know what is the minimum for each stage.
We did do a fair bit of hands on with seats on both days. The second day they had us install seats in our vehicles and then check our installs, then they sent us in for a break and when we came out they had "creatively" installed all of the seats that they had to see if we could catch the misuse.
One AOE did not have the straps threaded over the bar correctly. I caught that one and I think it impressed the young girl I was working with (heck, I impressed myself, lol), also that I could rethread the seat harness without the manual. I wish they would have covered more of the common misuse errors specific to certain popular seats (like the AOE harness over the bar and top position only for head rest).
The course was held at the SGI (provincial insurance) salvage yard. They broke a back passenger window and back window to show us the safety glass. During the smashing they put one of the window cling sun blockers on the window and using it would possibly prevent as much glass from flying into the back seat in a crash. Detonated a driver air bag (generation 1) and passenger airbag (generation 2). Had to do them upside down so they only went about 10 feet into the air, if it hadn't been windy they would have faced them up and gone about 40 feet skyward.
I know the one thing that I am really going to have to work on is explaining everything. The instructors were impressed with how much I knew about things but I said that remembering to explain why I know it or how to do it can be hard when it is second nature to me. I also need to work on my infant seat installs...it has been way to long since I have had to worry about one.
What I was most surprised about is that Saskatchewan does not have a booster law. Reason given is that the average age of vehicles in this province is 11 years, thus a lot of lapbelts are still in use and to make it mandatory to use a booster would really be difficult for a lot of families to follow the law. They also still "recommend" a no-back, swing-arm shield booster (with the belt on the outside) as a last resort in a situation with no best solution (only lapbelts). You do have to remain harnessed to 40lbs though (and luckily we have seats that harness to 48lbs). Hopefully when the new higher weight limit comes in and approved seats are available some of this will be solved by people realizing they can harness past the current 48lbs...of course then they will have to buy another seat...and if they don't have the money in the first place...sigh.
I have to finish my exam this weekend and send it in early next week. Is the Canadian test always an open book, take home, 75 questions test?
Once I am certified I plan to volunteer at any carseat check that I am able to attend. I'll probably print up some business cards and hang out in the carseat aisle more, lol. There is a tech locator website being put in place so that people can phone for seatchecks and I will be listed on there. I will continue to annoy all my friends.
Thanks for reading!
