NTSB TO HOST MEETING ON BOOSTER SEATS IN CARS EQUIPPED WITH LAP BELTS ONLY

The goal of this meeting is to identify what actions need to be taken by the federal government, child restraint manufacturers, retailers, safety advocates, and others to increase the availability of affordable booster seats for use with lap-only belts, as soon as possible. Because seat belts were designed for adults, 4- to 8-year-old children who have outgrown their child safety seats need to be restrained in booster seats. Since all older automobiles were equipped only with lap belts in the back seat, this problem tends to impact low-income and minority populations, who tend to own older vehicles.

Lap/shoulder belts have been required in the outboard seating position of vehicle back seats only since 1990. Accordingly, about 34 percent of the cars (43 million cars) still in use have lap belts in all back seat positions. Shoulder belts are not required in the center back seat position and many current model vehicles, including sport utility vehicles - the family car of the 90's - have only lap belts in the center rear seat position.

The roundtable discussion will be held in Washington, D.C., on December 7, 2000, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., in the NTSB Board Room and Conference Center, 429 L'Enfant Plaza, S.W., Washington, D.C.

Expected to attend the meeting are child restraint manufacturers, retailers, government regulators, and transportation safety advocacy groups.

"The need to focus on this issue became clear at a recent child safety seat inspection event for minority and low-income families that I attended, in Memphis, Tennessee," said NTSB Chairman Jim Hall. "Many of the cars that were fitted for safety seats at this event were older model vehicles and had lap-only belts. Few booster seats are designed for use with lap-only belts.

Furthermore, more than 90 percent of the 20 million children of booster seat age (4 to 8) are not properly restrained; they either are in seat belts designed for adults or not buckled up at all. An industry study reports that about half of 4- to 8-year-olds fatally injured in traffic crashes were completely unrestrained. The Safety Board is concerned about the alarming number of child safety seats that are improperly installed nationwide and also about the lack of usage of these life-saving devices," Hall added.

Statistically, highway fatalities are more prevalent among African-American children. According to a report by Nashville's Meharry Medical College, motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for African-Americans under the age of 20. Research conducted by Johns Hopkins University's School of Public Health also found that the risk of dying in a motor vehicle crash per mile of travel is three times greater for an African-American child, age 5 to 12, than it is for a Caucasian child.

Hispanic teens have the highest occupant death rate among all 13- to 19-year-olds. The death rate for Hispanic children aged 5 to 12 is 43 percent lower than the rate for African-American children in the same age group, but 72 percent greater than the rate for white children. Hispanic children under the age of 4 have the second highest highway death rate after African-American children.

"As Chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, I have made child passenger safety my first priority. We want all parents and caregivers, regardless of race and economic status, to have the opportunity to ensure that their child is safely secured in their vehicle. We should strive to ensure that all of our children are granted the same level of safety," Chairman Hall said.

The meeting is open to the public.

NTSB Media Contact: Terry N. Williams (202) 314-6100