Fitzgerald Says Many States Do Not Adequately Protect Child Passengers

    WASHINGTON, April 24 Congress may
need to step in and press states to strengthen their child passenger safety
laws to require that older children be safely secured in booster seats, U.S.
Senator Peter G. Fitzgerald (R-Illinois) said today.  The senator said that
many states aren't doing enough to protect older kids in car crashes, the
leading cause of death among children under age 14.

    "I'm concerned that many older children aren't adequately protected when
they ride in the car, and lax state laws may be to blame," said Fitzgerald,
who heads the Senate Commerce subcommittee on Consumer Affairs.  "We're here
today to listen to the experts and try to determine if there is anything the
federal government can or should be doing to encourage greater booster seat
use."

    The subcommittee held a hearing this morning to examine gaps in state laws
that leave children roughly between the ages of four and eight -- kids who are
too big for car seats but still to small to be safely secured by adult
seatbelts -- unprotected.  Because many states don't require these "forgotten
children" to ride in booster seats designed to make adult seatbelts fit
properly, they may be at greater risk of injury than their younger and older
siblings, Fitzgerald said.

    A recent evaluation of state child passenger safety laws by the National
SAFE KIDS Campaign, a child safety advocacy group, gave 24 states a failing
grade on protecting children riding in vehicles.  As many as 30 percent of all
children in the United States continue to ride completely unrestrained and, of
those who are buckled up, four out of five -- or 80 percent -- are improperly
secured, the study found.  Heather Paul, the Executive Director of the
National SAFE KIDS Campaign, testified at this morning's hearing.

    "Car crashes are the number one cause of death in this country among
children ages 14 and under," said Fitzgerald.  About 1,800 children die and
more than 274,000 are injured in automobile crashes every year, according to
government data.  "It's alarming to me that so many states are failing to
provide even the most basic passenger protections for our children.  We, as
parents, should be concerned," the senator added.

    Specifically, Fitzgerald called on states that fared poorly in the
national study to improve their safety laws by requiring older kids to ride in
booster seats.  Designed specifically to help standard adult seatbelts fit
children better, booster seats aid child passenger safety and help reduce the
risk of what experts call "lap belt syndrome" -- instances in which improperly
-- fitting seatbelts themselves actually cause serious injury to children in
car crashes instead of protecting them.  In some crashes, for example, the
shoulder belt that cuts across a child's neck -- instead of her torso -- and
the lab belt that rides high on her abdomen cause severe internal injuries to
her liver, spleen, intestines, and spinal cord, Fitzgerald said.

    Although all 50 states have mandatory child safety seat laws for younger
children, there is no similar uniform requirement for booster seat use.  If
states do not act quickly to address the problem, Fitzgerald suggested that
Congress should consider legislation to persuade them to tighten their
protections.  Among the possibilities, Congress could explore hinging federal
transportation funds and grants on the states' willingness to require booster
seats for older children.

    "The alarmingly low rate of booster seat use is a major problem in this
country and a serious public health threat.  We should consider all options
available to help encourage safer car rides for our children," the senator
said.

    Improving child passenger safety has been a focus for Fitzgerald since
becoming a member of the Senate.  Last year, he authored legislation to
modernize the government's outdated testing methods for child safety seats,
expand efforts to protect children in various types of collisions, and close
the "child safety gap" that leaves older children unprotected.  The new law,
which passed as part of a broader road safety package, also calls for new
federal regulations to ensure greater protection against head injuries in
side-impact collisions, and instructs NHTSA, the federal agency responsible
for testing child safety seats, to provide parents with accurate, easy-to-
understand information they can use to decide which car seat or booster seat
is best for their child.