Promoting Booster Seat Use

In general, each demonstration project included assessment, research, and evaluation; coalition building; outreach; public information and education; and evaluation components. This section provides an overview of the strategic areas to consider as you devise an approach for promoting booster seats in your community. It combines the just-mentioned components with the four-pronged approach in the national booster seat strategy.

As you review this information, consider whether your State's CPS law has a mandatory booster seat provision. (Most do not.) As you will read, State laws can greatly influence how people respond to messages about booster seat use. Therefore, it is important to understand how your State law is structured. The following questions also can help you make decisions about the type of program or activities to undertake in your community:

• Is there currently a group or organization promoting child passenger safety? If yes, would it be willing to expand its efforts to include the promotion of booster seat use?

• Do you want to develop a comprehensive program or focus on one issue such as legislative change or making booster seats available to low-income families?

• Can you obtain funding to pay staff to work on a booster seat promotion project?

• What core groups or individuals would be most interested in working to promote booster seat use?

• Is there a particular segment of the population on which you would like to focus?

Back to Top

Assessment, Research, and Evaluation

Using research and evaluation tools during all phases of a community outreach program can aid in defining the problem, targeting materials and activities, analyzing undesirable outcomes, and documenting successes. The demonstration projects used a variety of data collection, assessment, and evaluation methods during the 2 years in which they operated, including the following:

• Analyses of demographic data

• Community assessments to identify key organizations, service providers, etc.

• Focus groups to examine knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions

• Observational surveys to measure booster seat use

• Documentation of community participation and outreach activities.

Collecting information about your community at the start and throughout your project will help you

• Define the purpose and scope of your program/activities

• Set goals and objectives

• Allocate resources

• Develop effective materials

• Make good decisions

• Monitor progress

• Measure achievements.

Documenting success will help your efforts to raise funds, expand coalition membership, or just continue your current program.

For planning purposes, it is helpful to have some demographic information about your community and the audience you want to pursue, as well as information about potential sources of community support. Examples of these types of information are shown in the boxes.

Look for community partners to assist you with research and evaluation activities at the schools of public health and medicine of local colleges and universities. You also can find them at injury prevention research centers, at other businesses and organizations that conduct research, and in municipal government departments that are responsible for collecting public health and safety information.

Back to Top

Public-Private Partnerships (Coalition Building)

The creation of coalitions and advisory groups was an integral component of each demonstration project. Public and private-sector individuals and organizations that would directly or indirectly support the promotion of booster seats were tapped to expand the reach of each project.

In some instances, coalitions and advisory groups were used to lend credibility and access to various populations within the community. In other instances, partnerships were formed with groups that had direct contact with parents of young children and would provide information to them about booster seat use. Still other groups demonstrated their support by distributing information about booster seat use to their clients, customers, and employees.

Work with community members to expand the reach of your program by:

• Forming local coalitions of public and private organizations

• Forming advisory groups to provide direction, lend credibility, and open doors

• Affiliating with State and national coalitions to participate in national events

• Obtaining private-sector sponsorship for specific activities and support (inspection/fitting stations, printing materials, hosting CPS training, and other funding and in-kind service opportunities).

Back to Top

Strong Laws

All 50 States have primary (also referred to as standard) child restraint laws. They allow law enforcement officers to stop a driver if a child is not restrained according to the State law. However, the provisions of these laws vary from State to State, and fewer than half of the States include specific provisions for booster-seat-age children.

The impact of CPS legislation for this age group cannot be overstated. As reflected in the lessons learned from the demonstration projects, the lack of booster seat provisions in State child restraint laws contributes to the doubts that many parents have about the need to use booster seats. Mandatory booster seat provisions are integral to NHTSA's recommendations for strengthening all child restraint laws, as noted below.

Recommendations for Strengthening Child Restraint Laws

• Require all children up to age 16 (or the State's driving age) to be properly restrained in all seating positions.

• Require all children who have outgrown child safety seats to be restrained in booster seats until they are at least 8 years old, unless they are 4 feet 9 inches tall.

• Make the driver responsible for ensuring that children are placed in age- and size-appropriate restraints.

• Ban passengers from the cargo area of pickups and other light trucks.

• Include out-of-State vehicles, drivers, and children.

• Assess a reasonable fine for noncompliance and earmark a portion of the revenues to help support State child passenger safety programs.

• Eliminate exemptions and medical waivers because today's child restraint systems can accommodate children with almost any type of physical impairment or special need.

• Require that children 12 years old and younger be secured by an age-appropriate child restraint system in the rear seat of the vehicle.

• Eliminate exemptions such as "exceeding the number of available safety belts or restraints in the vehicle." (More than one occupant should never use the same safety belt.)

Community advocates have undertaken a variety of activities to support the passage of child restraint legislation that includes provisions for booster seats:

• Working with State legislators to introduce bills that call for comprehensive child restraint laws (requiring coverage of all children up to age 16)

• Testifying in support of comprehensive child restraint laws at public hearings

• Supporting the assessment of meaningful penalties for child safety seat violations

• Supporting the provision of resources for the enforcement of child restraint laws, including those covering the use of booster seats

• Writing letters to the editor in support of comprehensive child restraint laws

• Providing data and other information on the benefits of booster seats to legislators

Back to Top

Active, High-Visibility Law Enforcement

Although many State CPS laws do not cover booster seat use at this time, CPS laws are primary laws that police officers should, and often do, enforce. This responsibility places police officers in a perfect position to educate parents and children about the benefits of booster seat use. In addition to enforcement, officers can play an important role as speakers and advocates. You can gain their support by

• Encouraging law enforcement personnel to take CPS training courses

• Sponsoring prosecutor and judicial training to educate prosecutors and judges on enforcement and adjudication issues regarding child restraint laws

• Supporting law enforcement participation in national CPS mobilizations

• Working with the media to inform the public about CPS law enforcement activities on a regular basis

• Organizing and publicizing local support for the enforcement of child restraint laws

• Publicly recognizing law enforcement personnel who support child passenger safety

• Involving law enforcement personnel in non-enforcement-related CPS activities.

It also is important to note that when communities publicize the enforcement of child restraint laws through the media, community members are more likely to believe that they will receive a citation for nonuse. As a result, adults are more likely to place their children in occupant restraints.

Back to Top

Effective Public Education

Public education works hand in hand with public-private partnerships, strong laws, and high-visibility enforcement. It is a broad category that encompasses all types of public information and education activities. To be effective, public education must be appropriately tailored for each audience and frequently repeated. People must hear messages about booster seat use frequently, from credible and multiple sources, in language that is easily understood, over a long period of time.

Research from the demonstration projects and other NHTSA sources suggest that the public has a very low level of understanding about how booster seats work and why they are important as compared with safety seats for younger children. This low level of awareness was found among health-related and other CPS advocates, as well as among parents and the general public. Therefore, public education requires a wide range of programs and activities to increase awareness about and encourage the use of booster seats.

As you identify opportunities for public education, look for tie-ins with other passenger safety programs. NHTSA research has consistently seen evidence that programs that enforce or encourage belt use save children's as well as adults' lives. Fully 92 percent of the time, when a driver is belted, his or her child passengers are restrained. In contrast, when the driver is unbelted, the children are restrained only 72 percent of the time. (National Center for Statistics and Analysis, NHTSA, NOPUS, 2000, 2002)

Public education encompasses everything from multimedia campaigns to raise awareness to one-on-one discussions about the benefits of placing children in booster seats. Training and outreach activities to educate others to deliver booster seat messages to parents and other caregivers are also a part of public education activity. The list below highlights activities used in the demonstration projects in addition to other programs and activities that support the promotion of booster seat use:

• Organize education and training outreach programs that
  
  Educate healthcare-related and medical professionals, early childhood educators, childcare providers, and other individuals who can speak with parents about booster seat use
  
  Educate childcare providers on how to transport children safely
  
  Host CPS training courses for lay and professional groups
  
  Distribute print material (brochures, posters) on proper child safety seat and booster seat use to organizations and individuals that have regular contact with parents of young children.

• Develop an outreach program to obtain support from organizations and groups that can distribute and post information about booster seat use, including
  
  Businesses and other employers
  
  Community and advocacy groups
  
  Faith-based organizations
  
  EMS companies
  
  Libraries
  
  Municipal government agencies
  
  Hospitals and other health-related organizations.

• Develop a low-cost or give-away booster seat program for low-income families.

• Establish a permanent inspection/fitting station to conduct child safety seat (including booster seat) checks for proper installation and fit. You can find out more about setting up inspection/fitting stations on NHTSA's web site.

• Throughout the year, host child safety seat checks on proper installation and fit for children from birth to age 8.

• Publicize sources of materials and information on booster seats (e.g., web sites, local and national organizations, retailers) that employers can provide to employees.

• Identify local health and safety web sites that can link to the information about booster seats and child passenger safety on NHTSA's web site.

• Develop a database of certified CPS technicians and instructors and other CPS advocates as a community resource.

• Conduct multimedia public service campaigns throughout the year.

• Establish and maintain ongoing relationships with local media professionals to promote booster seat use.

• Identify public events (health fairs, community festivals) at which you can distribute information about booster seats.

Back to Top