AAA, NHTSA, Others Unite to Remind Parents of the Importance of Child Passenger Safety.

Valentine's Week to Focus on Booster Seats

BURNSVILLE, Minn. -- According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), approximately 7,500 lives have been saved by the proper use of child restraints during the past 20 years. Yet, motor vehicle crashes still remain the number one killer of children ages 4 to 14 in America. The reason? Too often it is the improper use or non-use of child safety seats and booster seats.

That's why AAA Minnesota/Iowa is joining with NHTSA and other state and local leaders around Valentine's Day this year to promote Child Passenger Safety Week (Feb. 11-17).

"In 2005, an average of five children ages 14 and younger were killed and 640 were injured in motor vehicle crashes every single day," said Gail Weinholzer, director of public affairs, AAA Minnesota/Iowa. "That's why we'll be working so hard during Child Passenger Safety Week and throughout the year talking to parents and caregivers about the importance of restraining their children properly in their vehicles."

While 98 percent of America's infants and 93 percent of children ages 1 to 3 are regularly restrained, not enough children ages 4 through 7 are restrained properly for their size and age. Only 10 to 20 percent of children ages 4 through 7 who should be using booster seats to protect them are actually in them. But children ages 4 to 8 who are placed in booster seats are 59 percent less likely to be injured in a car crash than children who are restrained only by a seat belt, according to a study by Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).

"As children grow, how they need to be secured in a car, truck, van or SUV changes," Weinholzer said. "Moreover, when you're an expectant mother, it's important to always wear your seat belt to protect you and your unborn child. Wear the lap belt across your hips and below your belly with the shoulder belt across your chest. Once your child is born, be a role model and continue to buckle up every trip, every time."

For maximum child passenger safety, parents and caregivers simply need to remember and follow the 4 Steps for Kids:

1) For the best possible protection keep infants in the back seat, in rear-facing child safety seats, as long as possible up to the height or weight limit of the particular seat. At a minimum, keep infants rear-facing until a minimum of age 1 and at least 20 pounds;

2) When children outgrow their rear-facing seats (at a minimum age 1 and at least 20 pounds) they should ride in forward-facing child safety seats, in the back seat, until they reach the upper weight or height limit of the particular seat (usually around age 4 and 40 pounds);

3) Once children outgrow their forward-facing seat (usually around age 4 and 40 pounds), they should ride in booster seats, in the back seat, until the vehicle seat belts fit properly.

4) When children outgrow their booster seats, (usually about age 8 or when they are at least 4'9" tall) they can use the adult seat belt in the back seat, if it fits properly. The lap belt should lie across the upper thighs and the shoulder belt across the chest. The child's back should be up against the seat back and knees should bend over the front edge of the seat.

"This year, during Child Passenger Safety Week, we are working hard to remind all parents, grandparents and child care providers that if their children are under 4'9", they need to be in a child safety seat or booster seat," said Weinholzer. "What better way to show you love your children on Valentine's Day than to make sure they are secured properly. Make it the law in your car - it might actually save your children's lives."

For more information about Child Passenger Safety Week and the proper use of child safety seats and booster seats, please visit www.carseatsmadesimple.org.

AAA recognizes that parents and other childcare providers may be confused by recent publicity surrounding child safety seats. For this reason, AAA's safety experts want to emphasize that the safest place for a child in a motor vehicle is always properly secured in a child safety seat, in the back seat of a vehicle. Car seats have been shown to reduce infant fatalities in crashes by 71 percent.

In selecting a car seat, consumers should use a seat that fits their vehicle, fits their child and will be installed and used correctly every time. For more information on the selection and installation of child safety seats log on to www.carseatsmadesimple.org.

AAA offers automotive, travel, insurance and financial services to more than 49 million members in the United States and Canada. AAA Minnesota/Iowa is part of The Auto Club Group, with 4.1 million members in eight Midwest states.

Editor's Note: National Child Passenger Safety Week is Feb. 11-17