LaGRANGE – As the holiday season gets closer, the Georgia State Patrol and Troup County Sheriff’s Department are collaborating to organize a car seat safety check and car seat giveaway on Saturday, Nov. 19 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Home Depot, 1500 Lafayette Parkway. This will be the second year the event will be hosted.

The Georgia State Patrol and Sheriff’s Department are partnering with Home Depot on that Saturday to give away car seats and inspect car seats, to see whether they are expired or need to be replaced.

“It’s an opportunity for the community to come out to the event, where people can actually drive in and a trooper will come and check the seat, whether it’s expired, torn, or worn out. We’re going to issue a new seat and make sure they know how to install it,” said Georgia State Patrol Sgt. 1st Class Maurice Raines.

Georgia law requires that children under the age of 8 need to be in a car seat or booster seat. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), four out of every 10 children under the age of 6 who die or are seriously injured in auto accidents were unrestrained or improperly restrained.

“It’s really about the kids and the parents. There are so many people who think they put in a car seat correctly and they don’t. We’ll be here to educate that parent on the proper way to install a car seat and we’re here to make sure that the car seat doesn’t have a recall or is completely out of date and needs to be replaced. The holidays are coming up and Thanksgiving is one of the deadliest holidays of the year, so we want to do our best to keep kids safe,” said Troup County Sheriff James Woodruff.

Parents who do not have a child in attendance at the event will not be issued a car seat.

Home Depot representatives said they couldn’t pass up the opportunity to host the event.

“For us, it’s just a a great opportunity to partner up with the Safety Patrol and Sheriff’s Department,” said Home Depot Store Manager Lonnie Rodgers II. “Anytime we can do something positive in the community, especially for children, then we definitely want to be involved. When Sergeant Raines brought this to us, we jumped at the opportunity.”

Raines fully expects to give away all available car seats to the public.

“We have an opportunity to educate the community and with the holidays coming up, our priority is to keep the children in Troup County safe,” said Raines.