Responding to recent reports by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the U.S. Department of Transportation regarding child driving safety, leaders of the National Black Nurses Association met with a car safety expert from Nissan North America to discuss the need for an aggressive child seat safety campaign in the African American community. Both NHTSA and DOT have reported that African American youth were 50 percent less likely to buckle up compared to children of other racial or ethnic backgrounds.

The meeting between NBNA and Robert Yakushi, corporate manager of engineering analysis at NNA, is part of Nissan's four-year-old public education campaign focusing on child seat safety. The automaker's Quest for Safety campaign, in partnership with the authors of the best selling "What to Expect" series of parenting books, provides information and guidelines for ensuring that children are properly protected when riding in cars.

"Research indicates that automobile accidents are one of the leading causes of death or injury for African American children and youth, up to age 19," Yakushi said. "When children witness the driver buckling up, they are likely to do the same thing 80 percent of the time. That's why Nissan has launched this important public awareness effort."

Yakushi provided NBNA members with information about how to correctly install car or booster seats based on the design of the vehicle. Yakushi also discussed how to use rear seat shoulder or anchor systems when installing the child seat, noting that only 20 percent of the people who use child safety seats actually use them correctly.

Since the launch of Quest for Safety, Nissan has distributed more than 1 million booklets to parents and caregivers nationwide. Anyone interested in receiving a free copy of the What to Expect Guide to Car Seat Safety should call Nissan's Quest for Safety helpline at 1-800-955-4500. The booklet is available in both English and Spanish and offers simple, step-by-step instructions for parents and answers questions parents commonly ask: from when to switch to a front-facing seat, to what to do if a child resists buckling up, to how long a child should stay in a booster seat.