Keeping
our children safe is top priority
E D I T O R I A L
By now, we would expect
that
Nothing endangers the
safety and well-being of your children more than not securing them safely in
a child restraint car seat.
In recent years, there
have been a number of local programs aimed at increasing consumer awareness
about child restraint car seats and how to properly use and efforts to
provide free car seats to families in need. The Safe Kids/Safe Communities of
Fairfield County, working through the Fairfield Department of Health,
spearheads these efforts.
This week is National
Child Passenger Safety Week in our country. In addition to being the leading
cause of death in teens, car crashes also are the leading cause of death in
children younger than age 15 across our nation.
Every year, according to
the National Academies' Transportation Research Board, about 800 school-age
children are killed in motor vehicle crashes during
normal school travel hours -- weekday mornings and afternoons during school
months -- accounting for about 14 percent of the 5,600 child deaths that
occur on the nation's roadways. Of these 800 deaths, only about 2 percent are
school-bus related, while 74 percent occur in
private passenger vehicles and 22 percent are the result of pedestrian or
bicycle accidents. More than half of all deaths of children between age 5 and
18 occur during normal school travel hours when a teenager is driving.
Some parents look forward
to their teen acting as chauffeur for younger brothers and sisters, but
"we are concerned that teen drivers are not be ready for the job,"
said
Direnfeld conducted an e-mail survey of passenger safety
experts asking their opinion on teens chauffeuring younger children. Their
responses provided for this advice:
· Don't do it. Do not rely on teen
drivers to transport younger children. Young children often do not value the
authority of a teen driver and may be more prone to acting up and distracting
the driver.
·
If you
must rely on a teen driver to transport younger children, have them learn how
to install infant carriers, car and booster seats from a qualified child
passenger safety technician. Contact your local police service or hospital to
locate an expert in your area.
·
Have
your infant carrier, car and booster seat inspected to assure it meets all
current safety standards.
·
Parents,
teen drivers and all other passengers must wear their own seat belt at all
times, allowing only as many passengers as functional seat belts.
Parents -- safe driving
starts with you. Kids learn to drive long before they get behind the wheel of
a car themselves by watching their parents. Parents of teen drivers should
enter into a mutual safe driving pact, suggesting programs like the "I
Promise Program," to help them do so. Parents interested in reading his
child passenger report can view it on the Web site; www.ipromiseprogram.com
Originally published
