Child Passenger Safety Week, Sept. 16-22, highlights need to protect kids riding in vehicles

September 14, 2007

Children outgrow clothes, toys and even their favorite TV shows amazingly fast. But one thing they never outgrow is the need to be protected while riding in a motor vehicle. Traffic crashes are the number one killer of children ages 4 to 14, according to the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA). 

During this year’s “National Child Passenger Safety Week” (Sept. 16-22), child safety experts and law enforcement officers will emphasize to parents, grandparents and other adults responsible for transporting youngsters that proper use of child safety restraints in vehicles can be a matter of life or death.

To prevent children from being ejected from a vehicle or thrown around violently inside it during a crash, state law requires the following four-step progression:

1. Rear facing child-safety seat in the back seat (if vehicle is equipped with a back seat) when the child:

2. Forward facing child-safety seat in the back seat (if the vehicle is equipped with a back seat) when the child:

• Is at least 1-year-old but younger than 4-years-old or
• Weighs at least 20 pounds but less than 40 pounds.

3. Booster seat when the child:

• Is at least 4-years-old but younger than 8-years-old or
•  Weighs at least 40 pounds but less than 80 pounds or
• Is not 57-inches (4-feet, 9-inches) tall or taller

4. Safety belt when the child:

•  Is 8-years-old or older or
• Weighs 80 or more pounds or
•  Is 57-inches tall or taller

“During Child Passenger Safety Week, we will be telling parents, grandparents and other adults that the little bit of time and effort it takes to secure a child properly according to their age or size can be a lifesaver,” says Dennis Hughes, manager of safety programs for the State Patrol Bureau of Transportation Safety.

For more information and answers to questions about child passenger safety, contact the Wisconsin Information Network for Safety at the following toll-free number: 1-866-511-9467 (WINS). More information about the proper use of booster seats is available on the Web at: www.boosterseat.gov.

For more information, contact:
Don Hagen
(608) 267-7520, donald.hagen@dot.state.wi

Dennis Hughes
(608) 267-9075, dennis.hughes@dot.state.wi.us