MDOT Supports Child Passenger Safety Week

With the recent start of school, roadways are once again filled with parents running carpool routes to get their children to and from school. With the additional traffic, it is imperative that parents understand and follow the correct procedures for keeping children correctly safely restrained inside vehicles.

To this end, MDOT supports Child Passenger Safety Week from September 13-19, which aims to increase child passenger safety by ensuring that all parents and caregivers are correctly using the right restraint for their children’s ages and sizes.

Car crashes are a leading cause of death for children. Every 34 seconds, one child under age 13 is involved in a crash. In 2013 alone, 126,000 children under the age of 13 were injured as passengers in car crashes across the nation. For children under the age of 5, an estimated 263 lives were saved by child restraints. However, 637 more children could have lived if all of these children had been restrained correctly.

This Child Passenger Safety Week, MDOT offers the following safety tips for drivers:
Ensure that all passengers are correctly buckled—every time.
All children under age 13 should always ride in the backseat.
Follow car seat installation instructions to ensure that the car seat is installed correctly.
Consider the child’s age and weight when selecting which type of safety restraint is needed (rear-facing car seat, forward-facing car seat, booster seat, or seat belt).

For more information regarding traffic safety including safe driving tips geared towards teens, parents and educators visit www.GoMDOT.com/safetyeducation.