Meetings will be from 12 noon - 1 p.m. Lunch will be provided. Back to Top Blue Ribbon Passenger Safety Panel for Older Child Passengers On November 19th Secretary of Transportation Rodney Slater announced the convening and assembly of a Blue Ribbon Passenger Safety Panel to address occupant protection for elementary school and pre-driving age children. Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for children of every age from 5 to 16 years old.
Research reveals that restraint use decreases as children move out of child safety seats.
Fatal statistics also show that six out of 10 children involved in fatal crashes are totally unrestrained. Restraint use is actually decreasing as children get older, and children are being moved into adult seat belts too soon. Because of their size, children do not fit properly into adult seat belts until they are between 60 and 80 pounds and approximately 8 years old. Another challenge facing the panel is gaps in child restraint laws which often leave the children in the ages 4 to 16 unprotected. In most states a 10 year old can ride legally in the back seat unrestrained because laws only apply to front seat occupants.