Fw: Increase in Seat Belt Use -- Decrease In Deaths

September 18, 1998

FYI...Vickie

Central Texas Trauma Council

Increase in Seat Belt Use -- Decrease In Deaths -- Spurs Expansion Of

Operation ABC Mobilization

Additional National Enforcement Push Set This Thanksgiving;

Two More Planned for 1999

WASHINGTON, Sept. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- New data show that the nationally-

coordinated seat belt enforcement drive, the Operation ABC Mobilization, is

saving lives by getting more people to buckle up. As a result, organizers

announced today that the effort will be conducted again, on an even larger

scale.

The Operation ABC Mobilization: America Buckles Up Children is a

50-state crackdown on drivers who don't buckle up children. It has been

conducted twice in the past two years. Based on very favorable initial

evidence of effectiveness, organizers are making plans to repeat and expand

the effort during the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, and two more times in

1999.

The evidence of effectiveness -- while not definitive -- is very

strong. A before and after observational survey conducted by the National

Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) showed that six million more

Americans were buckled up after the last Mobilization, which was conducted

during Memorial Day. And a newly updated report from the National Safety

Council concluded that fatalities were down by more than one-third over the

holiday, despite low gas prices and heavy travel.

" Officers from more than 4,200 agencies took to the roads in May to

protect children by enforcing the laws requiring that kids be buckled up, "

said Janet Dewey, Executive Director of the Air Bag & Seat Belt Safety

Campaign, which sponsored the Mobilization in cooperation with NHTSA.

" They are champions who have paved the way to increase the scope and power

of the Mobilization this Fall and next year. "

In a letter to law enforcement officers who participated in the

Memorial Day Mobilization, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Rodney E.

Slater applauded the nationwide crackdown, saying " It is clear that high

visibility enforcement efforts have a significant and immediate impact on

seat belt use . . . Because of your efforts, hundreds of lives have been

saved and scores of children are alive today. "

" State and local enforcement agencies have focused on highway safety

during busy holiday travel periods in the past, " said ez,

Administrator of the NHTSA. " But this national effort to protect children

is truly unique and is demonstrating significant change in safety behavior.

Everyone involved should be encouraged and applauded for their

participation. "

Currently, crashes are the leading cause of death among children -- six

out of ten children who die in crashes are completely unrestrained. NHTSA

estimates that half of these unbuckled children could be saved by an age

and size appropriate safety seat or seat belt.

In addition to stepped up enforcement of child passenger safety laws,

research shows that enforcement of adult seat belt laws is also essential

to protecting children. According to national observational data, when a

driver is buckled up, belt use for children is 87%. However, when a driver

is unbuckled, belt use for children drops to 24%. Similarly, a recent

study by the University of California, Irvine, reported in the journal

Pediatrics, found that driver restraint use was the strongest predictor or

child restraint use; restrained drivers were three times more likely to

restrain children than drivers who did not use seat belts themselves.

" Officers have known for years that adults set the standard for belt

use in vehicles -- if adults don't buckle up, chances are children won't be

buckled up either, " said Chief Bobby Moody, President of the International

Association of Chiefs of Police. " That is why during the next Operation

ABC mobilizations, officers across the country will also focus on enforcing

existing adult seat belt laws in addition to child passenger safety laws. "

The next Mobilization will take place from November 23 through 29.

Operation ABC Mobilization, organized by the Air Bag & Seat Belt Safety

Campaign in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Transportation and the

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, is part of the Buckle Up

America Campaign -- an ongoing national safety initiative to increase seat

belt use and save the lives of Americans. The Campaign is supported by the

International Association of Chiefs of Police, the National Sheriffs

Association, Operation CARE and the National Organization of Black Law

Enforcement Executives.

SOURCE Air Bag Safety Campaign

-0- 09/17/98

/CONTACT: Robin Schepper or Amy Shively, , both for the

Air Bag Safety Campaign/

CO: Operation ABC Mobilization; National Highway Traffic Safety

Administration; National Safety Council; Air Bag Safety Campaign ST:

District of Columbia IN: AUT SU:

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September 21, 1998