TxDOT to Give Kids a Lift During Child Passenger Safety Week; Safety Advocates Promote Life-Saving Benefits of Booster Seats

AUSTIN, Texas--Feb. 1, 20063, 2006--Every February, parents give candy hearts and keepsakes to their children in the name of love. The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has another suggestion for parents this Valentine's Day: Love your children by buckling them up with safety restraints appropriate for their height and weight.

Safety advocates urge parents of children ages 4 to 8 to use booster seats. Small children who outgrow their child safety seats are often at risk for serious injury from the very things that parents think will protect them: their safety belts.

According to the Texas Transportation Institute, two out of three children between 5 and 9 years old routinely travel in Texas without being buckled up, putting them at risk of crash-related injuries or death.

"Putting kids who are over 40 pounds in booster seats can save their lives," said Carol Rawson, Deputy Director of TxDOT's Traffic Operations Division. "We're asking parents to buckle up their children using the safety restraint that best fits their kids -- and to secure them in the back seat."

TxDOT joins Safe Kids Texas, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration around Valentine's Day to commemorate National Child Passenger Safety Week February 12-18.

Safety advocates recommend that children who weigh between 40 pounds and 80-100 pounds or who are less than 4 feet 9 inches (57 inches) tall ride buckled in the back in a booster seat. Children can move from a booster seat to a lap and shoulder belt if:

-- the child's knees bend over the front edge of the seat and the child's feet touch the floor board of the vehicle; and

-- the lap belt rests snugly on the child's upper legs or hips and the shoulder belt rests on the child's shoulder or collarbone.

Safety experts believe that the 337 children who survived fatal crashes in 2004 in Texas did so because they were buckled up. They estimate that the 60 children who died in traffic crashes in Texas during 2004 were riding without the benefit of safety belts or child safety seats.

Texas law requires children under 17 years old to be buckled up whether they are sitting in the front or back seat. Parents can be fined up to $200 for violating the law.