Car crashes are leading cause of death for young Hispanics

Insure.com reported that motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among American Hispanics between the ages of 1 and 44, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In addition, Hispanic children in America between the ages of 5 and 12 are 72 percent more likely to die in car crashes than non-Hispanic children.

The reasons, says Dr. Jeffrey Runge, administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), are myriad, but include issues such as recent immigration to the United States, resulting in new Latino residents unsure or unaware of motor vehicle safety laws.

For example, Hispanics have a lower rate of seat belt use, 63 percent compared with 71 percent for U.S. residents overall.

In addition, although male teenage Hispanics drive fewer miles than their white counterparts, they are almost twice as likely to die in a car crash.

The Hispanic population has increased by 57.9 percent in just 10 years according to the U.S. Census Bureau, much faster than the U.S. population as a whole. Census 2000 shows there are 35.3 million Hispanics in the U.S. and, extrapolating from the recent increases, Latinos will be the largest minority group in the country by 2050. That also means the number of Hispanics involved in car crashes and fatalities will increase.

In order to educate the Hispanic population about motor vehicle safety measures, NTHSA has either conducted or examined studies done on the overall Hispanic population. Some findings that contribute to a lower rate of seat belt use include:

Hispanics are more likely than non-Hispanics to be living in poverty, meaning they may drive older cars without seat belts, or with seat belts that no longer work. Hispanics in many cases have large families and one family car, meaning cars are overcrowded and there often are not enough seat belts to go around and little or no room for child safety seats. Many Hispanic mothers mistakenly believe their child is safer in their arms than in a car seat. Some Hispanic male drivers believe that wearing a seat belt sends a negative message to others about their driving abilities. Hispanics living in rural areas often drive pick-up trucks and have passengers sit in the truck bed with no restraints. Also, many Hispanic parents may not have had the opportunity to learn how to properly use car seats. For example, in heavily Hispanic-populated Bronx County, New York, the Department of Motor Vehicles lists one child-safety-seat fitting station where parents can learn how to properly install safety seats. Suffolk and Nassau counties have six of these stations each, and Manhattan has three.

NHTSA has just premiered the "Corazon de mi vida" campaign in New York after pilot-testing it in Texas. Created three years ago by the National Latino Children's Institute (NLCI), the translation is "You are the center of my life." The goal of the campaign is to make buckling up and using proper child restraint seats a habit for Hispanics, both adult and child.