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By
Jack Nerad
Driving Today |
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Millions of parents of youngsters ages 4 to 8 (weighing 40 to 80 pounds) can take one simple action to help ensure their child's safety during this back-to-school season as they travel in the family vehicle: Properly buckle their children in booster seats with lap and shoulder safety belts.
The federal government estimates that only about 6 percent of the nearly 20 million children in this age group are restrained properly in booster seats, which offer more secure restraint than lap/shoulder belts alone. In response to this startling statistic, Boost America!, sponsored by Ford Motor Co. in partnership with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Nickelodeon and others, has launched a $15 million, multi-year child booster seat education campaign that will reach out to every daycare, preschool and elementary school in the nation. It will distribute 1 million booster seats, half of which will go to families in need.
Autumn Alexander Skeen, a Boost America! safety ambassador who lost her 4-year-old son in a car crash when his seat belt failed to keep him inside the vehicle, is educating parents about the importance of booster seats and providing additional lifesaving child safety tips.
"No parent should ever know the pain of losing a child, especially if death or injury is easily preventable," Skeen said. "As millions of Americans take to the roads this back-to-school season, we owe it to our children to ensure everyone is buckled up and kids who weigh from 40 to 80 pounds ride in booster seats."
Skeen offered the following child safety tips:
Infants should ride in the back seat in a rear-facing safety seat until they are 1 year old and at least 20 pounds.
Children 20 to 40 pounds should ride in the back seat in a forward-facing safety seat.
Children 40 to 80 pounds should ride in the back seat in a booster seat with a lap/shoulder belt.
Shoulder belts are critical to use with booster seats, because they provide the child with upper body protection. Never use a booster seat without a shoulder belt.
The back seat is the safest place for children ages 12 and younger to ride.
Since the loss of her son in 1996, Skeen has led the charge to warn others of the need for booster seats. Residing in Walla Walla, Wash., she is also responsible for Washington becoming the first state to enact a booster seat law. Named in honor of her son, "Anton's Law" was signed last March. Her moving story has been featured on ABC's "20/20," CNN, in Readers Digest, and in newspapers across the country.
(c) Studio One Networks
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