Have a Safe, Ticket-free Memorial Day Weekend: Buckle Up

Hold for Release on May 21, 2001
Contact: Joe Larkin
630-775-2303

Have a Safe, Ticket-free Memorial Day Weekend:  Buckle Up
Itasca, Ill. -- Memorial Day signals the beginning of the travel season when many Americans take to the road for vacation travel or weekend trips away from home. Driving safely and taking the proper precautions can mean the difference between having a fun trip and becoming a statistic: the National Safety Council predicts that 468 Americans will die in motor-vehicle crashes over the 3 ¼ -day Memorial Day weekend.   

Alan C. McMillan, president of the NSC, said, "The Council issues this grim prediction each year not to scare people, but to save lives.  The good news is that seat belt use in the United States has increased from 58 percent to 71 percent over the last five years. That translates to an estimated 342 people who will not die this holiday weekend because they were wearing their seat belts.  An additional 126 lives could be saved over the Memorial Day holiday weekend if everyone wore safety belts.* 	

Whether your Memorial Day trip is across the country or just across town, remember that all passengers must be buckled up. The NSC estimates that 27,700 people will suffer nonfatal disabling injuries over the holiday in crashes. Buckling up can substantially reduce the severity of injuries in nonfatal crashes. 	
And be sure to buckle up your children. More than 10,000 law enforcement agencies are issuing tickets this week as part of Operation ABC Mobilization: America Buckles up Children-the largest-ever nationwide crackdown on drivers who don*t buckle up and don*t buckle up kids. This year's Memorial Day weekend officially begins at 6:00 p.m. on Friday, May 25 and ends at 11:59 p.m. on Monday, May 28.  From May 21 through Memorial Day, officers coast-to-coast will blanket roadways with checkpoints and stepped-up patrols, sharply intensifying enforcement of seat belt and child restraint laws. It's the law in all fifty states and the District of Columbia that children must be restrained; however, six out of ten children who die in crashes are unbuckled. 

Safety experts recommend using a rear-facing child seat for infants until they are at least 20 pounds and one year of age. Use a forward-facing child seat for children who are at least 20 pounds and one year of age until about 40 pounds and approximately four years of age. Use a belt positioning booster seat from about 40 pounds until the child can sit with his or her back straight against the vehicle seat back cushion, with knees bent over the vehicle's seat edge. Even children large enough to fit properly in a regular seat belt are safer in the back of the vehicle. 

Finally, don't let drinking and driving turn a holiday celebration into a tragedy. Even moderate consumption of wine or beer impairs a driver's ability to make proper decisions on the road.  A May 2000 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that nearly two out of three children who are killed in alcohol-related crashes are passengers riding with an impaired driver. In most of these cases, children were riding with an impaired driver who failed to buckle them up.