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Mazda Supports National Effort to Buckle up Children

19 May 1999

Mazda Supports National Effort to Buckle up Children

    IRVINE, Calif., May 19 -- Mazda today pledged its official
support of a national mobilization this Memorial Day week to protect children
by stepping up enforcement of child passenger safety laws.  Thousands of law
enforcement agencies across the nation are conducting the first 1999 wave of
the Operation ABC Mobilization: America Buckles Up Children -- the largest
ever coordinated stepped-up enforcement effort on drivers who don't buckle up
children.  Mazda joins organizations nationwide that endorse the intensive,
50-state lifesaving initiative.
    Buckle Up America Week (May 24-31) culminates on Memorial Day weekend.
The Air Bag & Seat Belt Safety Campaign, in partnership with National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), will be leading the effort to increase
seat belt use and child passenger safety through the Operation ABC
Mobilization.  Law enforcement in every state will be out in force during the
week to make sure everyone, especially every child, is properly buckled up.
Buckle Up America is the national movement to raise seat belt use to
85 percent and reduce child crash fatalities 15 percent by the year 2000.
    According to the National Safety Council, motor vehicle crashes are the
leading cause of death for children of all races.  In 1997, motor vehicle
crashes took the lives of 2,087 children ages 0 to 15 and injured nearly
320,000 more.  Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for
Hispanics through the age of 24 and for African American children through the
age of 14.  In 1997, six out of every 10 children who died in crashes were
unbelted.  Nearly half of these children would be alive today if they had been
properly belted.
    "Mazda gives its official 'Endorsement for Enforcement,'" said Jay
Amestoy, Mazda's Vice President of Public and Government Affairs.  "We urge
zero tolerance for unbuckled children and hope officers can save lives and
send a clear message to America: The law requires that children be buckled up
at all times."
    A survey of parents who have infants shows that the lack of adult belt use
particularly endangers babies.  Parents who don't buckle up are more likely to
improperly place babies in the front seat, leaving them at serious risk of
being injured or killed by an air bag.  According to investigations, almost
all of the children who have died from air bag related injuries were
completely unrestrained, improperly restrained or were infants riding in a
rear-facing infant seat in the front seat of the vehicle.
    Mazda North American Operation is responsible for the research and
development, sales and marketing, and customer parts and service support of
Mazda vehicles in the United States.  Headquartered in Irvine, Calif., MNAO
has approximately 800 dealerships nationwide and is owned by Mazda Motor
Corporation, Hiroshima, Japan.  MNAO has been a supporter of the Air Bag &
Seat Belt Safety Campaign since its inception in 1996.