Drive Safe Hampton Roads wants your used car seats

Staff, The Virginian-Pilot
·2 min read

For 34 years, Drive Safe Hampton Roads has joined forces with community partners to collect old, used and potentially unsafe child safety seats during the Child Safety Seat Round-Up program.

The project also serves to educate parents and caregivers about the possible dangers of using car seats past the date recommended by the manufacturer, car seats purchased secondhand and seats missing parts or with no traceable recall information, the agency said in a news release.

According to the National Highway Safety Administration, 755 children were killed in vehicle crashes in 2020 with 42% of them unrestrained.

Community partners for the project include Walmart, AAA Tidewater Virginia, Hoffman Beverage Co., Waste Management of Virginia and the Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters. All will be encouraging everyone to “round up” their old child safety seats and turn them in for a reward throughout the month of February.

The goal is to gather potentially unsafe car seats so that they are not resold or given to unsuspecting parents or caregivers for use.

As an incentive, Walmart is providing a $5 Walmart gift card for each seat turned in, with a limit of two. Safety seats can be dropped off at Walmart Supercenter select locations or at any of the eleven AAA Tidewater Virginia locations through the end of the month.

All collected safety seats will be recycled by Waste Management of Virginia, Inc. Not only will recycling these seats eliminate the potential danger to children, it will also provide positive benefits to the community by utilizing a “greener” alternative for disposal.

Virginia law requires all children under the age of 8 to be properly restrained in an approved Department of Transportation child restraint. The law applies to any driver, not just the parent or guardian, in any vehicle, on any highway in Virginia. In addition, all children ages 8-17 must be properly restrained in a safety belt while seated in any seating position in a vehicle.

For more information, see www.drivesafehr.org.

Drop-off locations:

Walmart Supercenters

  • 2448 Chesapeake Square Ring Road, Chesapeake

  • 201 Hillcrest Parkway, Chesapeake

  • 632 Grassfield Parkway, Chesapeake

  • 1170 North Military Highway, Norfolk

  • 7530 Tidewater Drive, Norfolk

  • 1098 Fredrick Blvd., Portsmouth

  • 6259 College Drive, Suffolk

  • 546 First Colonial Road, Virginia Beach

  • 2021 Lynnhaven Parkway, Virginia Beach

  • 1149 Nimmo Parkway, Virginia Beach

  • 657 Phoenix Drive, Virginia Beach

AAA Tidewater Locations

  • AAA Tidewater Virginia Corporate Office, 5366 Virginia Beach Blvd., Virginia Beach

  • Virginia Beach Branch, Landstown Commons Shopping Center, 3352 Princess Anne Road., Ste. 919, Virginia Beach

  • Chesapeake, 111 Kempsville Road, Chesapeake

  • Norfolk, Palace Station Shopping Center-Ghent, 330 W. 22nd St., Suite 101

  • Suffolk Center, 3529 Bridge Road

  • Hampton, 1520 Aberdeen Road

  • Chesapeake Car Care Center, 1023 S. Battlefield Blvd.

  • Norfolk Car Care Center, 5732 E. Virginia Beach Blvd.

  • Virginia Beach Car Care Center, 1424 N. Great Neck Road