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DaimlerChrysler Stands Behind Expanded National Crackdown

23 November 1998

DaimlerChrysler Stands Behind Expanded National Crackdown On Drivers Who Don't Buckle Up Children

    WASHINGTON, Nov. 23 -- DaimlerChrysler Corporation
today announced its support of a national mobilization this
Thanksgiving holiday to protect children by stepping up enforcement of child
passenger safety laws.  More than 5,000 law enforcement agencies across the
nation are conducting the second 1998 wave of the Operation ABC Mobilization:
America Buckles Up Children -- the largest ever coordinated crackdown on
drivers who don't buckle up children.  DaimlerChrysler joins over 1,000
organizations nationwide that endorse the intensive, 50-state lifesaving
enforcement effort.
    "Tens of thousands of law enforcement officers in all 50 states will be
out in force protecting children from the greatest danger they face -- being
unrestrained in a crash," said Janet Dewey, Executive Director of the Air
Bag & Seat Belt Safety Campaign, sponsor of the Operation ABC Mobilization.
"We know these officers are energized by the ground swell of support from
organizations across the country like DaimlerChrysler."
    "Although only law enforcement officers can write the tickets, we stand
firmly behind the lifesaving message each ticket delivers," said Susan M.
Cischke, Vice President, Vehicle Certification, Compliance and Safety Affairs.
"DaimlerChrysler is not only an employer, we're parents, grandparents, aunts
and uncles who want to protect our children.  The Operation ABC Mobilization
is the kind of broad community-based movement our nation needs to save
children's lives."
    The Thanksgiving Operation ABC Mobilization comes on the heels of an
extremely successful Mobilization last Memorial Day.  The National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration's observational surveys before and after the
last May Mobilization showed six million more people buckling up.  This
translates into an estimated 670 lives saved each year if these people
continue to use their seat belts.  In addition, a survey by the National
Safety Council showed fatalities went down by more than 35 percent during the
Mobilization/Memorial Day period.
     "The impact of the last Operation ABC Mobilization clearly illustrates
that high-visibility enforcement works," said Cischke.  "That is why
DaimlerChrysler gives its official Endorsement for Enforcement.  We hope
officers can expand the Mobilization's success and, once again, save lives
with a clear message to America:  The law requires that children be buckled up
at all times.  No exceptions.  No excuses."
    Crashes are the leading cause of death to American children.  Last year
alone, more than 2,087 children died and nearly 330,000 were injured in
vehicle crashes.  More than half of the children under age five who died were
totally unbuckled.
    Studies consistently show that the best way to get children buckled up is
to get adults buckled up.  According to observational data, when a driver
buckles up, children are buckled up 87 percent of the time; however, when a
driver is unbuckled, child belt use drops to only 24 percent.
    Many drivers simply don't believe they'll be in a crash, so they don't put
on their own seat belt or make sure that children are restrained.  The
possibility of being stopped and ticketed is what it takes for many drivers to
protect children by always buckling them up.
    A survey of parents who have infants shows that the lack of adult belt use
particularly endangers babies:  parents who don't buckle up are more likely to
improperly place babies the front seat, leaving them at serious risk of being
injured or killed by an air bag.  According to investigations, almost all of
the children who have died from air bag related injuries were completely
unrestrained, improperly restrained or were infants riding in a rear-facing
infant seat.