| Occupant Protection
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DOT snow blower
along Dalton Highway |
Fairbanks Police
Department Officer Doug Welborn |
Construction on Dalton 21 Mile hill |
| Booster Seat Demographics & Legislation |
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary
E. Peters Launches New Service to Automatically E-mail,
Instant Message Safety Recall Information; Consumers
Now Able to Sign Up for Safety Seat and Tire Recall
Information.
Consumers will be able to get important safety updates
about child seats and tire recalls automatically e-mailed
or sent to their PDA devices as part of a new federal
government notification service, U.S. Secretary of Transportation
Mary E. Peters announced today.
“Signing up for this service is
one of the easiest things you can do to help protect
yourself and the lives of your children,” said
Secretary Peters. “We can’t afford
to let safety get lost in the mail.”
The Secretary noted that the new system
focuses on safety seat and tire recall information because
fewer consumers have historically responded to these
important safety updates. For example, less than
one-third of affected consumers respond to the tire
recalls, while less than half of affected consumers
respond to child seat recalls.
“When a product is defective, we
want to do everything to get those unsafe products off
the market,” said National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration Deputy Administrator James F. Ports,
Jr.
Ports urged consumers to visit www.safercar.gov
and click on the “E-mail” or “RSS”
option to register for the new notification service.
However, he also reminded consumers that they should
continue to register their safety seats and tires with
manufacturers, even if they sign up for the new notification
service. Ports explained that registering child
seats and tires helps manufacturers contact purchasers
about recalls in a timely fashion and allows them to
provide additional details and instructions about the
recalls.
Ports added
that the Department has even added a feature to its
“safecar.gov” website to make it easier
for consumers to register safety seats directly with
manufacturers. Consumers should click on the “Register
your child restraint online” link and take advantage
of this service.
| Alaska
Child Safety Facts |
“Kids shouldn't
be in the front seat until they weigh at least 80
lbs, in case of a crash. A child sitting in the
front of the car before the age of 12 is not violating
the law, but is not following federal guidelines.
The guidelines are based on statistical data and
scientific research using crash tests. My
youngest was over 12 years old before she finally
topped the scales at 80 lbs. and I could tell
that if she had been allowed to sit up front any
earlier, there would be an increased probability
of her being injured or worse in a crash.
Children over 1 year old and between
20 and 40 pounds can be in forward-facing child
safety seats, or in rear-facing convertible seats
if the child has not reached the maximum rear-facing
weight.
Children ages 4 to 8 (about 40
to 80 pounds) should be in a booster seat and
restrained with lap and shoulder belts every time
they ride. Adult safety belts alone do not adequately
protect children this size from injury in a crash.
Usually, children over 80 pounds
and 8 years old can fit correctly in lap/shoulder
belts. When the child is sitting all the way back
against the vehicle seat, the lap belt should
fit across the child’s hips, not the stomach.
The shoulder belt should cross the center of the
shoulder. Do not let your children put shoulder
belts under their arms or behind their backs.
This could result in serious injuries.”
-Cindy Cashen, Alaska Highway Safety Office Administrator |
Child Booster Seat, seat belt examples:
Photo courtesy of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
Photo courtesy of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
Alaska law says that a driver may not
transport children under 16 in a motor vehicle unless
the child is properly secured according to state child
passenger safety law.
Children under age 4 must be properly
secured in a federally approved car seat or booster
car seat.
For children over age 4 but under age
16, Alaska state law requires that the child be properly
secured in a vehicle seat belt or federally approved
car seat or booster seat, whichever is appropriate for
the particular child.
Child protection information is: www.safekids.org
Adult seat belt examples:
Photo courtesy of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
| The
Kenai Peninsula SAFE KIDS |
Campaign’s mission is to prevent
the number one killer of children – unintentional
injury. The Kenai Peninsula SAFE KIDS Coalition works
to educate adults and children, provide safety devices
to families in need, and pass and strengthen laws to
empower families and their communities to protect children
14 and under. Kenai Peninsula SAFE KIDS Coalition lead
organizations are Central Peninsula General Hospital
for The Central Peninsula Area and South Peninsula General
Hospital for the Homer SAFE KIDS.
The goals of the current project
are to continue to increase the number of children and
families who use seat belts and car seats by visiting
outlying communities with the mobile fitting station
and maintaining one permanent local fitting station
with "store-front" access to issue child car
seats and safety helmets, and to provide education for
parents on seat belt and child car seat usage. The mobile
station is in a trailer that is fitted out with all
items necessary to assess and provide for each individual
child's safety needs when attending events such as the
safety rodeo and health fairs. It also allows expansion
of the service delivery area to include Cooper Landing,
Ninilchik, and other areas on the Central Kenai Peninsula.
A permanent, staffed, store-front location provides
continuous access to safety equipment and education
for Peninsula residents.
Continues to collaborate with a new partner, SEARHC. A
new location has been designated to allow a closer partnership
with WIC. The target populations continue to be low income
and Alaskan Native families. The is to reduce morbidity
and mortality associated with motor vehicle crashes and
children. Kids on the Move continues to find 80 to 95%
of all car seats checked are incorrectly installed. With
regularly scheduled appointments available in Juneau,
they are able to outreach a large number of families and
assist them with the education needed to correct all errors
of installation, thereby reducing injury and death to
our children. A Cost/benefit analysis
is provided by National SAFE KIDS Campaign data and
shows that a $45 convertible child seat saves an estimated
$100 in medical spending and related insurance claims
processing over its 4 to 5 year life! This doesn’t
include the major savings in auto insurance costs by
preventing future work loss due to permanent disability
and death.
Located in the central part of the state and just south
of the Arctic Circle, Fairbanks is the gateway to Alaska’s
vast interior and expansive Arctic. Fairbanks experiences
climatic extremes marked by colder winters and warmer
summers than any other area of the state. In fact, Fairbanks
is synonymous with winter from late October through March.
These unique weather patterns make many outdoor activities
a challenge, with temperatures regularly dipping to minus
20 degrees and lower during the winter months.
Despite these harsh conditions,
the injury control community in and around Fairbanks
wanted child safety seat checks to occur year-round.
The data collected at fitting stations, by local child
passenger safety coordinators, showed that 92 percent
of child safety seats were installed incorrectly with
varying degrees of misuse; putting child motor vehicle
passengers at risk for injury or death. In an effort
to offer year-round, indoor child seat safety checks
a relationship was forged between the child passenger
safety community and the local fire department. The
result of this relationship is the Fairbanks Safe Rider
program.
Mat-Su Services is a subsidiary of Resource
and Information
Directory
on Child Abuse in the State of Alaska. RIDCASA strives
to be a Resource and Information Directory on child abuse
in the state of Alaska. They are determined to compile,
categorize, and disseminate information on child abuse
in the State of Alaska for child victims, adult survivors,
their families, and professionals working with them. They
also set annual goals to do the following: •
To raise the public awareness of the occurrence of child
abuse.
•
Strive to lessen the stigmatism placed on child sexual
abuse victims/survivors.
•
To promote child safety and child abuse preventive programs.
•
To promote child safety by researching and posting child
safety tips including tips on
personal safety and Internet
safety for children.
•
We will accomplish part of our mission by keeping up
a website on child abuse and by
expanding our educational
"Mint Green Ribbon Campaign".
| In
2000, crashes cost Alaska $475 million -
about $758 for each resident! |
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