Board Member Jennifer Homendy to Discuss Transportation Safety for Children

6/19/2019

​WASHINGTON (June 19, 2019) — The National Transportation Safety Board, along with Fitzgerald Auto Mall, and Safe Kids Worldwide, will hold a press conference highlighting transportation safety and how to Strengthen Occupant Protection, which is an item on the NTSB 2019-2020 Most Wanted List of Transportation Safety Improvements. 

While motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of death for all Americans, children are best protected against injury and death in the event of a crash when they are properly secured in an approved and correctly installed child car seat or booster seat. Child safety seats reduce the fatal injury rate by 71 percent for infants less than 1 year old and by 54 percent in toddlers between 1 and 4 years old.

Once children reach a child safety seat’s height and/or weight maximum, they should remain in a booster seat until they fit an adult seat belt properly. Booster seats reduce a child’s risk of being injured or killed in a crash by 59 percent over the use of a seatbelt alone.

Although child car seat and seat belt use laws exist in every state, too many vehicle occupants are still dying or getting seriously injured in crashes because they simply didn’t buckle up. Strengthen Occupant Protection remains on the NTSB 2019-2020 Most Wanted List of Transportation Safety Improvements for this reason.

 Following the press conference, there will be a press availability with Member Homendy who will discuss ways to keep children safe while riding in a car, as well as demonstrations on proper installation of child car seats, as families prepare for summer travel. The event will arm parents, the community, and kids with life-saving transportation safety tips.

 WHO: Member Jennifer Homendy

WHAT: Press Briefing to discuss transportation safety for children

WHEN: Thursday, June 20, 2019, at 9:45 a.m.

WHERE: Fitzgerald Auto Mall, 5501 Nicholson Lane, Rockville, Maryland

To report an incident/accident or if you are a public safety agency, please call 1-844-373-9922 or 202-314-6290 to speak to a Watch Officer at the NTSB Response Operations Center (ROC) in Washington, DC (24/7).


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