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Ensure Your Child's Safety in the Car This Labor Day

29 August 2000

Ensure Your Child's Safety in the Car This Labor Day And Back-to-School Season

                 Boost America! Gives Safety Tips to Parents

    WALLA WALLA, Wash., Aug. 29 Millions of parents of
youngsters 40 to 80 pounds (roughly ages 4 to 8) can take one simple action to
help ensure their child's safety this holiday and back-to-school season as
they travel in the family vehicle -- properly buckle their children in booster
seats and lap and shoulder safety belts.
    Autumn Alexander Skeen, a Boost America! safety ambassador who lost her
four year-old son in a car crash when his seat belt failed to keep him inside
the vehicle, is educating parents about the importance of booster seats and
providing additional lifesaving child safety tips.
    The federal government estimates that only about 6 percent of the nearly
20 million children in this age group are restrained in booster seats, which
offer more secure restraint than lap/shoulder belts alone.  Sponsored by Ford
Motor Company, in partnership with the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration (NHTSA), Nickelodeon and others, Boost America! is a $15
million, multi-year child booster seat education campaign that will reach out
to every daycare, preschool and elementary school in the nation. It will
distribute one million booster seats, half of which will go to families in
need.
    "No parent should ever know the pain of losing a child, especially if
death or injury is easily preventable.  As millions of Americans take to the
roads this Labor Day weekend and back-to-school season, we owe it to our
children to ensure everyone is buckled-up and kids who weigh from 40 to 80
pounds ride in booster seats," said Skeen.
    Skeen offered the following child safety tips:

    *  Infants should ride in the back seat in a rear facing safety seat until
       they are one year old and at least 20 pounds.

    *  Children 20 to 40 pounds should ride in the back seat in a forward
       facing safety seat.

    *  Children 40 to 80 pounds should ride in the back seat in a booster seat
       and lap/shoulder belt.

    *  Shoulder belts are critical to use with booster seats because they
       provide the child with upper body protection.  Never use a booster seat
       without a shoulder belt.

    *  The back seat is the safest place for children ages 12 and under to
       ride.

    *  Children should never place the shoulder belt behind their backs or
       under their arms.  Doing so will greatly increase the risk of severe
       injury in a crash because shoulder belts provide needed upper body
       protection in the event of a crash.

    *  Parents should always set the example by buckling-up themselves and
       ensuring all their passengers are wearing safety belts, and using
       booster or child seats as appropriate.

    "Booster seats are inexpensive and easy to use," Skeen said.  "In a car
crash they can save your child's life."
    Since the loss of her son in 1996, Skeen has led the charge to warn others
of the need for booster seats.  Residing in Walla, Walla, she is also
responsible for Washington becoming the first state to enact a booster seat
law. Named in honor of her son, "Anton's Law" was signed last March. Her
moving story has been featured on ABC's 20/20, CNN, in Readers Digest, and in
newspapers across the country.
    Boost America! is one of the most extensive public/private child passenger
safety partnerships ever created. The U.S. Department of Transportation's
NHTSA is the lead partner, joined by some of the nation's leading health,
safety, education and law enforcement organizations.