PRINTER'S NO. 2053
No. 331 Session of 2008
INTRODUCED BY TOMLINSON, MAY 13, 2008
INTRODUCED AND ADOPTED, MAY 13, 2008
A RESOLUTION 1 Designating May 17, 2008, as "Child Passenger Safety Day" in 2 Pennsylvania. 3 WHEREAS, Motor vehicle crashes remain the leading cause of 4 death for children between three and fourteen years of age in 5 the United States; and 6 WHEREAS, According to the Centers for Disease Control, 7 203,000 child passengers were injured and 1,451 child passengers 8 were killed in motor vehicle crashes in 2005; and 9 WHEREAS, According to an ongoing 10 year study by Partners 10 for Child Passenger Safety (PCPS), a partnership which involves 11 The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, State Farm Insurance 12 Companies and the University of Pennsylvania, 48% of children 13 between four and eight years of age are incorrectly restrained; 14 and 15 WHEREAS, Safe Kids Pennsylvania found that almost 85% of 16 children placed in booster seats are improperly restrained; and 17 WHEREAS, 60% of all children between four and eight years of
1 age are correctly restrained in booster seats; and 2 WHEREAS, Child restraint use in this Commonwealth has 3 increased from 51% in 1999 to 79% in 2006; and 4 WHEREAS, The PCPS study is a scientific and systematic 5 approach that seeks to determine how and why children are being 6 killed or injured in motor vehicle crashes; and 7 WHEREAS, PCPS has created a database containing more than 8 455,000 crashes involving 669,000 children, representing the 9 largest source of data on children involved in motor vehicle 10 crashes; and 11 WHEREAS, PCPS is the first academic-corporate partnership 12 devoted to the safety of children in motor vehicles whose 13 methodology combines in-depth telephone interviews, onsite crash 14 investigations and computer crash simulations with 15 interdisciplinary analysis and interpretation; and 16 WHEREAS, PCPS findings are published regularly in leading 17 medical and engineering journals and presented at scientific 18 conferences; and 19 WHEREAS, PCPS outreach to the automotive and restraint 20 community, policymakers, legislators, public health educators 21 and the media has improved child occupant safety; and 22 WHEREAS, The goal of PCPS is to share information about the 23 unique safety needs of children and teenage drivers; and 24 WHEREAS, "Child Passenger Safety Day" turns research into 25 action and is an excellent opportunity for parents to put their 26 minds at ease by having a trained technician check their 27 children's car seats and booster seats and provide potentially 28 lifesaving information; and 29 WHEREAS, To spread the word of child passenger safety and how 30 parents and guardians can better protect their children, State 20080S0331R2053 - 2 -
1 Farm Insurance Companies have scheduled 30 free child safety 2 seat checkpoints across this Commonwealth in 2008; therefore be 3 it 4 RESOLVED, That the Senate designate May 17, 2008, as "Child 5 Passenger Safety Day" in Pennsylvania. E9L82SFL/20080S0331R2053 - 3 -