Car seats or community service — that is the choice some people convicted of traffic offenses now have.

Georgia State Patrol Trooper Jamie Mitchell of the Rome post started the program about a month ago with Probate Court Judge Steve Burkhalter.

The program allows offenders sentenced to community service to buy car seats in lieu of performing community service.

The car seats are donated to Safe Kids of Floyd County for families who cannot afford them. The seats can cost as little as $35 or as much as $200, Mitchell said.

Mitchell gathered with Safe Kids of Floyd County at Supervision Services on Fourth Street on Wednesday morning as 10 car seats were donated.

So far, 19 car seats have been donated from just two people, according to Darla Royer, office manager and probation officer with Supervision Services.

Those two people, convicted of DUI, had a hard time fitting community service into their schedule and preferred to buy the car seats, she said.

“One works six to seven days a week,” Royer said. “One has strange work hours.”

Mitchell said he hopes to expand the program to Rome Municipal Court but has yet to talk with the judge.

Georgia law requires that children younger than the age of 8 must be properly secured in an approved car seat or booster seat while riding in passenger automobiles, vans and pickup trucks.

Andrew Denmon, one of the coordinators of Safe Kids, said the car seats are needed because some families cannot afford them.

“If they come to us before we come to them, they won’t get a ticket,” Denmon said.

Denmon said 80 percent of car seats are not correctly installed, but Safe Kids can help.

Free child safety seat inspections are available by appointment. To schedule an appointment or to learn about getting a car seat call 706-252-0815.