NHTSA and Nurses Team
Up for School Bus Safety

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NHTSA 08-96 Monday, February 12, 1996
Contact: Barry McCahill Tel. No.:(202) 366-9550

    LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- At events marking National Child Passenger Safety Awareness Week here today, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) and the National Emergency Nurses Association together urged parents to putsafety first when children are riding in their vehicles.

    NHTSA Deputy Administrator Philip R. Recht said that motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for children five to 14 years old, and that far too many smaller children also die needlessly in car crashes.

    Every day, eight children under 15 die and nearly 900 are injured in traffic crashes. Simple precautions -- using child safety seats properly and prohibiting children from riding in the cargo bed of pickups -- will help reduce that number, Recht said.

    NADA enthusiastically supports efforts to educate the public about auto safety. Our members --19,500 franchised new- car dealers -- are in a unique position to deliver critical safety information to consumers at the point of purchase. Last year, we joined NHTSA and other safety groups to promote child passenger safety and we look forward to expanding this effort in the future, NADA's Executive Vice President Frank McCarthy said.

    National Child Passenger Safety Awareness Week, which this year takes place from Feb. 11 to 17, was the occasion for emergency nurses to announce their Adopt-A-Dealer program. Nurses will offer training for auto dealership staff on how to properly install child safety seats and the danger of permitting children to ride in pickup cargo beds. Recht estimated that about 80 percent of child safety seats are not installed correctly.

    According to Recht, about 200 people riding in pickup cargo beds die annually in crashes, and about half are under 18. Similarly, more than half of the 673 children under five killed during 1994 while occupants of passenger vehicles and large trucks were not in child safety seats or using safety belts.