We tend to focus on the luxury and speed of our automobiles, the ruggedness of our sport utility vehicles, and the economic benefits that the automobile industry provides the U.S rather than how the design of those vehicles fail to provide adequate protection for the children riding in them. Next Monday, I will be speaking to a group of highway safety leaders at the annual Lifesavers Conference in Atlanta about the state of child passenger safety in America. I can tell you, ladies and gentlemen, what I plan to tell them as parents, as caregivers, as government officials, as automakers, as car dealers, and as reporters, we have failed our children and it s time to do the right thing and fix what we ve broken. Our children are the innocent victims of the highway safety culture we have created and perpetuated. As former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop said, There are not many places that children go that adults have not made dangerous for them.
Traffic crashes are the leading cause of death for our children.
Over 1,100 children under age 10 will probably die in motor vehicle crashes this year. Unfortunately, even if the parents do buckle in their children, thinking that they re protecting them the vast majority of those parents will be wrong. Eight out of 10 children are in child safety seats that aren t properly secured putting them at risk of injury or death. The Safety Board estimates that 10 million children are in misused safety seats and not getting the protection that their parents think they are providing even though 96 percent of those parents think otherwise according to a recent survey conducted by DaimlerChrysler and the National Safety Council. In addition, most children are placed in restraint systems that are too advanced for their size.