PRINTER'S NO. 979
No. 102 Session of 2007
INTRODUCED BY TOMLINSON, KASUNIC, COSTA, WASHINGTON, MELLOW,
FONTANA, BOSCOLA, FERLO, PUNT, ERICKSON, TARTAGLIONE, FUMO,
RAFFERTY, O'PAKE, ORIE, BRUBAKER, LAVALLE, MUSTO, LOGAN,
EARLL, WAUGH, WONDERLING, C. WILLIAMS, STOUT, STACK,
McILHINNEY, FOLMER, BROWNE, PILEGGI AND ARMSTRONG,
MAY 4, 2007
REFERRED TO TRANSPORTATION, MAY 4, 2007
A RESOLUTION
1 Designating May 19, 2007, 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,
7 221,196 child passengers were injured and 990 child passengers
8 were killed in motor vehicle crashes in 2004; and
9 WHEREAS, According to an ongoing study by Partners for Child
10 Passenger Safety (PCPS), a partnership which involves The
11 Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, State Farm Insurance
12 Companies and the University of Pennsylvania, 64% of children
13 between four and eight years of age are incorrectly restrained;
14 and
15 WHEREAS, Safe Kids Coalition found that 73% of child safety
16 seats are not installed or used correctly; and
1 WHEREAS, In this Commonwealth only 48% of children between
2 four and eight years of age are correctly restrained in booster
3 seats; 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
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
20070S0102R0979 - 2 -
1 Farm Insurance Companies have scheduled 37 free child safety
2 seat checkpoints across this Commonwealth in 2007; therefore be
3 it
4 RESOLVED, That the Senate designate May 19, 2007, as "Child
5 Passenger Safety Day" in Pennsylvania.
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