Child Passenger Safety Week 2006

The roadway is the most dangerous environment for children. Motor vehicle crashes are the number one cause of death for children over the age of one. When traveling on the roadways, parents no longer have complete control over the safety of their children. That’s why it is important that all children be properly restrained in the car to give them the best chance of survival in a crash.

Unfortunately, in Ohio if a child is over the age of four and weighs more than forty pounds, he or she no longer has to be buckled in the backseat. The Greater Cleveland Safe Kids Coalition is actively working to change their state’s status as having the worst child passenger safety laws in the nation.

The Greater Cleveland Safe Kids Coalition has over 100 certified child passenger safety technicians in the Northeast Ohio area who have volunteered their time to help parents properly restrain their children. To recognize them for their hard work and dedication, Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital’s Injury Prevention Center hosted a breakfast at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in their honor.

Following the breakfast, a press conference was held to demonstrate the weakness of Ohio’s law, and raise support to improve the law. There were four speakers at the media event.

Susan Connor, PhD, Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital, welcomed the child passenger safety advocates who were in attendance, and explained the reason for this press conference. Ohio has the worst child passenger safety law in the country, according to Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital is launching a grassroots effort to improve Ohio’s law to protect child passengers of all ages.
Mike Toth, Mentor Police Department discussed the correlation between seat belt use and primary enforcement. Nearly 98% of infants and 89% of children 1 to 4 years old are properly restrained. Yet the number drops off considerably after children reach age 4, the last age covered by Ohio’s law. Mike commented that a billboard he passed on the way to the event could reach as many people in one hour, as he and his partner do in a year. A law he says, could reach everyone.
Mark Harper, Akron Fire Department discussed the tragedy that many firefighters and paramedics see during their career – the death or life-altering injury of a child in a motor vehicle crash. Eighty percent of the children age 4 – 15 killed in motor vehicle crashes in Ohio last year were unrestrained. Many of those children would have survived had they been restrained.
Keynote speaker, Dr. Michael Anderson, M.D., Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital, brought on stage with him two four-year-old girls. Dr. Anderson explained that Teagan, who weighs 37 pounds, is required by Ohio law to ride in a child safety seat. Brenna, on the other hand, does not even need a seat belt according to Ohio law, because she weighs 43 pounds. She can ride standing on the seat. This does not make sense, according to Dr. Anderson, because physiologically, these two girls are the same. Indeed, any observer looking at the two girls side by side would have a difficult time explaining why one deserves to be protected but not the other.

The press conference was concluded with a performance by Toddler Rock, a group of Cleveland children between the ages of 2 and 6, who perform every Thursday at the Rock Hall. Music therapist, Deforia Lane, PhD, University Hospitals of Cleveland, leads the group.

Images from the Event

See the difference: Teagan (left), who is four years old and weighs 37 pounds is required by Ohio’s law to be properly restrained in an appropriate child safety seat. Brenna (right), who is four years old and 43 pounds, can be standing in the back seat, because Ohio’s law does not require her to be restrained. As Dr. Anderson explains, “this doesn’t make sense, because physiologically the two girls are the same.”

Dr. Michael Anderson speaks to an audience of child passenger safety advocates about the difference, or lack thereof, between these two girls.

The children of Toddler Rock, led by music therapist, Deforia Lane, PhD, University Hospitals of Cleveland, perform at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame & Museum during a press conference advocating for stronger child passenger restraint laws in Ohio.

Return to Highlights Home Page