'Buckle Up' campaign seeks to protect children

  • Published
  • By Tim Snyder
  • Air Force Flight Test Center Ground Safety Office
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  For children ages 5 to 14, no place is deadlier than the family minivan, and no time is more dangerous than the summer driving season that begins Memorial Day. 

Motor vehicle crashes kill more children and young teens than anything else, with the highest number of crashes taking place during the Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Labor Day holidays. 

But this week, 8,100 police departments across the country are beefing up traffic patrols to check for drivers not wearing seat belts and children not placed in child seats. 

From 1990 to 1998, 15,000 children died in car crashes. While the death toll dropped 12 percent during those eight years, the organizers of Buckle Up America have made a 25-percent reduction by 2007 one of their goals. 

"The main thing is we know that fatalities are going down because restraint use is going up," said Cathy Hickey, a spokeswoman for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, one of the sponsors of Buckle Up America. "And we think as more kids are restrained, more kids will survive crashes they otherwise wouldn't." 

The organizers of Buckle Up America also are trying to increase seat belt use by adults from 67 percent to 90 percent. Doing so would prevent about 5,500 deaths and 130,000 injuries while saving the country $8.8 billion, according to NHTSA. 

Making adults wear seat belts can also lead to more buckled-in children, NHTSA says. Drivers who use seat belts are three times more likely to make sure their children do, too. However, drivers who don't wear their seat belts leave their youngsters unbuckled on 70 percent of their trips. 

The 8,100 law enforcement agencies participating in Buckle Up America are pursuing different tactics to achieve these goals. 

The National Safety Council, which is co-sponsoring Buckle Up America, is operating a toll-free telephone number, (800) 764-5755, for people to report drivers who don't buckle up their children. Those drivers won't face investigation by the police, but they will get information and safety materials mailed to their homes. The California Highway Patrol has also opened its own toll-free reporting line, (800) TELL-CHP.