INDIANAPOLIS – Charlie Vits, the market development manager at IMMI/Safeguard, was one of six recipients earlier this month of an award from Safe Kids Indiana for advocating child passenger safety.

From left: Dr. Joseph O’Neil, the co-medical director of the Automotive Safety Program, presents Charlie Vits of IMMI with a Child Advocate Safety Award at the 2010 Indiana Injury Prevention Conference held in Indianapolis on May 14.

Vits, a 12-year employee of IMMI, was recognized on May 14 at the 2010 Indiana Injury Prevention Conference for spearheading the engineering team that developed the patented SmartFrame technology in 2002 that provides school bus compartmentalization and meets federal standards for occupant protection.

But Vits is also the face of the company at school bus, Head Start and child passenger safety conferences and trade shows nationwide, providing educational support on best practices for child securement and on the company's line of products. For example, he is a frequent speaker at state and national conferences and is a fixture at the various NHTSA eight-hour Child Passenger Safety Restraint Systems on School Buses workshops.

"The air miles do add up," he joked.

He added that he focuses on bridging the gap between the school transportation, Head Start and child passenger safety worlds to foster communication, as the two modes of school buses and passenger vehicles differ greatly in how to safely and appropriately secure children in car seats and seat belts.

“We’re losing too many children to an epidemic that can be prevented,” said Mitch Stoller, president and chief executive officer of Safe Kids USA. “The 45 percent drop demonstrates tremendous progress, but we can’t lose sight that accidental injury remains the leading killer of our nation’s kids and that many of these injuries can be prevented.”