Press Release

Coalition for Vehicle Choice Pushes Belts and Child Safety

08/29/96

The Coalition for Vehicle Choice Pushes Belts with Bags, Buckle
Kids in Back


COLUMBUS, Ohio, Aug. 27 -- Labor Day -- to many this
marks the end of some of our favorite summertime pastimes. It's also
one of the most traveled holidays of the year, so many Americans will
take to the roads for one last family summer outing. The Ohio
Coalition For Vehicle Choice (CVC) wants all motorists to remember
these important life-saving driving tips: use safety belts and child
seats properly, drive sober, obey posted speed limits and traffic
signals, and practice common-sense, and courteous driving.

This year, there's a special safe-driving message for parents:
remember children should be buckled up in the back seat. "The recent
deaths of several children, who were not properly buckled up in the
front seats of air-bag equipped cars, make it especially important to
remind Moms and Dads that the safest place for kids is in the back
seat -- a child safety seat or properly buckled into a vehicle's
safety belt," said CVC's Ed Hogan.

Currently, all 50 states require young children and infants to be
buckled into safety seats and 49 states (all but New Hampshire)
require all vehicle occupants to buckle up. Eleven states and District
of Columbia allow police officers to stop and ticket those who fail to
wear safety belts. In the other 38 states with belt-use laws, unbelted
occupants can be ticketed only if they are stopped for another reason.

In 1993, more than 600 children under the age of five were killed in
motor vehicle crashes -- and half of them were not using child safety
seats or safety belts. "It's sad to say there are still some people
who actually believe that since their car or truck has an air-bag,
they don't need to wear a safety belt or buckle the kids in the back
seat. What many people don't realize is that safety belts are designed
to supplement the protection offered by the air bag. Your safety belt
keeps you back away from the air bag which inflates at nearly 200 mph,
allowing the air bag to cushion your head and chest from more serious
injury," said Ed Hogan.

Air bags were designed to work in frontal impact crashes -- where
about half of all occupant vehicle deaths occur. They were designed to
protect an average male not wearing a safety belt in a 30
mile-per-hour head on crash. That means children, older passengers
whose bones are more brittle, and smaller stature adults who sit
closer to the steering wheel are at greater risk of being injured by
an inflating air bag -- especially if they are not wearing their
safety belts and sitting with the seats adjusted as far back as
possible.

Air bags are an important safety technology, and have saved over 1,500
lives since they were introduced into a substantial portion of the new
vehicle fleet. However, if not combined with properly worn safety
belts, they can sometimes increase the risks of serious injury in a
crash.

To make sure your family travels safely this Labor Day weekend, CVC
offers the following tips:

FOR CHILDREN

* Make sure all children ride buckled up in the back seat. Studies
show that's the safest place in the vehicle to ride.

* If at all possible, do not use a rear-facing infant seat in the
front seat of a vehicle with a passenger-side air bag.

* If a child must ride up front, or if you must put a rear-facing
infant seat in the front of a car or truck with a passenger-side air
bag, move the vehicle seat as far back and away from the dashboard and
out of the path of the inflating air bag.

* For an older child, if the safety belt does not fit correctly (for
example, if it comes across the child's face) the child should sit on
a booster seat. Never allow a child to slip the shoulder belt behind
the back or under the arm because that could lead to a serious injury.

FOR ADULTS


* Always wear the lap and shoulder belts comfortably across the
shoulder and low and tight across the hips. If the shoulder strap
irritates your neck, check to see if you can adjust the upper
anchorage of the belt or slide slightly to the middle of the car to
make the belt fit better.

* When driving, keep as much a distance between you and the steering
wheel as you reasonably can. Move the seat back as far on the track as
you can, and still be able to drive comfortably and reach the
accelerator and brakes.