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Ensure Your Child's Safety in the Car This Thanksgiving

17 November 2000

Ensure Your Child's Safety in the Car This Thanksgiving Boost America! Gives Safety Tips to Parents

    WALLA WALLA, Wash., Nov. 17 As millions of Americans take
to the highways this Thanksgiving, Ford Motor Company's Boost America! reminds
parents that hundreds of children between the ages of 4 and 8 are killed and
thousands more are injured in car crashes every year.  A few simple
precautions can mean the difference between life and death.
    Autumn Alexander Skeen, Boost America's safety ambassador, lost her four
year-old son in a crash when his seat belt failed to keep him inside the
vehicle.  She is working to educate parents about the importance of booster
seats and providing additional lifesaving child safety tips.
    "No parent should ever know the pain of losing a child, especially if
death or injury is easily preventable.  This Thanksgiving, we owe it to our
children to show how thankful we are for them by buckling them up correctly on
every ride," said Skeen.

    Skeen offered the following safety tips:

    * Infants should ride in the back seat in a rear facing safety seat as
      long as possible but at least until they are one year old and at least
      20 pounds.

    * Children 20 to 40 pounds should ride in the back seat in a forward
      facing safety seat.

    * Children 40 to 80 pounds should ride in the back seat in a belt-
      positioning booster seat and lap/shoulder belt.

    * Shoulder belts are critical to use with booster seats because they
      provide the child with upper body protection.  Never use a booster seat
      without a shoulder belt.

    * The back seat is the safest place for children ages 12 and under to
      ride.

    * Children should never place the shoulder belt behind their backs or
      under their arms.  Doing so will greatly increase the risk of severe
      injury in a crash because shoulder belts provide needed upper body
      protection in the event of a crash.

    * Parents should always set the example by buckling themselves and
      ensuring all their passengers are wearing safety belts, and using
      booster or child seats as appropriate.

    Boost America! is one of the most extensive public/private child passenger
safety partnerships ever created.  Sponsored by Ford Motor Company, in
partnership with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA),
AAA, Nickelodeon and others, Boost America! is a $15 million child booster
seat education campaign that will reach out to all 154,000 of the nation's
daycare, preschool and elementary schools.  It will distribute one million
booster seats, half of which will go to families in need.  The program will
officially launch early next year.
    The federal government estimates that only about 6 percent of the nearly
20 million children between the ages of 4 and 8 are using booster seats, which
improve the fit of adult lap/shoulder belts for children.
    "Belt-positioning booster seats are inexpensive and easy to use," Skeen
said.  "No one expects to be in a crash, but if it happens to you, you'll be
thankful that you spent the time and money to buy and install them properly."
    Since the loss of her son in 1996, Skeen has led the charge to warn others
of the need for booster seats.  Residing in Walla, Walla, she is also
responsible for Washington becoming the first state to enact a booster seat
law.  Named in honor of her son, "Anton's Law" was signed last March.  Her
moving story has been featured on ABC's 20/20, CNN, in Readers Digest, and in
newspapers across the country.