FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 2, 2000 SB 00-16
NEW SAFETY BOARD WEB PAGE OFFERS CHILD SAFETY INFO
Washington D.C. - The National Transportation Safety Board opened a new Internet web page to provide much-needed information to parents and caregivers about child transportation safety on our nation's highways.
The NTSB web page provides information about the need for proper use of child safety seats and booster seats in automobiles and features links to other web sites where consumers can get information on child safety seat fitting stations in their area. The new web page is located at:
http://www.ntsb.gov/Surface/Highway/childseat.htm.
The page also can be reached by going to the NTSB's home page, http://www.ntsb.gov, clicking on the "Highway" button, and then choosing the "Child Transportation Safety" link.
"Child safety seats have proven to be more than 70 percent effective in preventing deaths and serious injuries," said NTSB Chairman Jim Hall. "But, to get all of the benefits these safety seats offer, the child restraints must be used properly."
This is an important message to get out to parents and caregivers because highway crashes remain the leading cause of death for America's children. And, while the use of child safety seats and booster seats effectively reduce the risk, their misuse is widespread.
"Unfortunately, even if the parents do buckle in their children, thinking that they're protecting them - the vast majority of those parents will be wrong," Chairman Hall said. "And, in most cases, they won't know it until they're in an accident - and then it's too late. "
The Safety Board estimates that 10 million children are in misused safety seats and not getting the protection that their parents think they are providing - even though 96 percent of those parents think otherwise, according to a recent survey conducted by DaimlerChrysler and the National Safety Council.
In addition, most children are placed in restraint systems that are too advanced for their size. The Safety Board's 1996 study on child passenger safety found that most 4- to 8-year-olds are in seat belts designed for adults - rather than in booster seats specifically designed to improve seatbelt fit for this group of children.
Besides offering links to the DaimlerChrysler-sponsored Fit For A Kid website, the SafeKids Buckle Up site sponsored by General Motors, and Ford Motor Co.'s Boost America site, the NTSB's new web page offers a wealth of other information.
The NTSB web page also features:
NTSB Press Officer: Phil Frame, 202-314-6100.
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