SAFE KIDS, UAW and GM Present Fleet of Chevy Express Cargo Vans For Mobile Car Seat Check Up

DETROIT, June 19 -- Thirty new Chevy Express Cargo Vans will make their debuts in cities across the country this weekend and throughout the month of June as the National SAFE KIDS Campaign expands its Mobile Car Seat Check Up Van program. Selected SAFE KIDS coalitions will use the vans to hold traveling child safety seat checkups in their local communities as part of the SAFE KIDS BUCKLE UP® child passenger safety program.

The Metro Detroit SAFE KIDS Coalition and its lead organization Children's Hospital of Michigan are the recipients of one of the new vans. Coalition coordinator Nancy Delaney unveiled the vehicle at a ceremony today at the hospital, attended by representatives from the UAW-GM Center for Human Resources, General Motors, and the National SAFE KIDS Campaign.

"We hope that once parents and caregivers see the van on the roads in the metropolitan Detroit area, they will recognize that a wonderful resource exists to help them properly protect their children in motor vehicles," said Delaney.

"We are especially grateful to the UAW-GM CHR and General Motors for their generous commitment to child passenger safety," said Martin Eichelberger, M.D., president of the National SAFE KIDS Campaign.

The UAW-GM CHR and GM, sponsors of the SAFE KIDS BUCKLE UP program, donated the vans to SAFE KIDS last year as part of an additional $8 million commitment.

The new vehicles join the existing fleet of 51 Chevy Venture vans that were donated to SAFE KIDS coalitions by GM in 2000. In just over two years, the Ventures have traveled nearly 1 million miles and have conducted child safety seat checkup events in every state and the District of Columbia.

"What began as an effort to promote increased awareness of child passenger safety, and donate child safety seats to families in need, has evolved into an important national partnership," stated Richard Shoemaker, vice president and director, UAW, GM department. "This new phase of the SAFE KIDS BUCKLE UP program will expand our life-saving efforts to thousands of families in virtually every part of the country through our mobile vans and our permanent checkup sites."

Like their Venture predecessors, the new vehicles are equipped with everything needed to conduct child safety seat checkup events, including tents, traffic safety cones and signage.

The exteriors of the Chevy Express Cargo Vans feature colorful backgrounds and graphics of children in various types of child safety seats. The interiors consist of custom-made compartments designed to conveniently store equipment and accessories. Each fully loaded van is valued at $45,000. The following SAFE KIDS coalitions are Express Van recipients:

SAFE KIDS Alabama State SAFE KIDS Greater Flint (Mich.) SAFE KIDS Alaska State SAFE KIDS St. Louis SAFE KIDS Maricopa County (Ariz.) SAFE KIDS Lee County (Miss.) SAFE KIDS Navajo Nation (Ariz.) SAFE KIDS Lenoir County (N.C.) SAFE KIDS California State SAFE KIDS Greater Cleveland SAFE KIDS Orange County SAFE KIDS Southeastern Pennsylvania & Inland Empire (Calif.)

SAFE KIDS Metro Denver SAFE KIDS Anderson County (S.C.)

SAFE KIDS Broward County (Fla.) SAFE KIDS Greenville (S.C.)

SAFE KIDS Cobb County (Ga.) SAFE KIDS Greater Knox (Tenn.)

SAFE KIDS Chicagoland (Ill.) SAFE KIDS Greater Houston

SAFE KIDS Allen County (Ind.) SAFE KIDS Tarrant County (Texas)

SAFE KIDS Kansas State SAFE KIDS San Angelo (Texas)

SAFE KIDS River Cities (Ky.) SAFE KIDS Bear River (Utah)

SAFE KIDS Carroll County (Md.) SAFE KIDS Yakima County (Wash.)

SAFE KIDS Metro Detroit SAFE KIDS Madison Area (Wis.)

"Chevrolet is once again pleased to be the brand of choice for the SAFE KIDS BUCKLE UP program," stated John Middlebrook, vice president and general manager, vehicle brand marketing and corporate advertising at General Motors. "The Venture program has experienced tremendous success helping spread the word about child passenger safety to families across the country. We know the Express vans will have a similar impact on the new communities that will be reached."

Motor vehicle crashes remain the leading cause of unintentional injury- related death among children ages 14 and under. Each year, more than 1,700 children are killed and another 264,000 are injured as occupants of motor vehicles.

In February 2002, SAFE KIDS released a survey of child restraint use in America that revealed 14 percent of children were riding completely unrestrained and another 33 percent were riding in the wrong restraint for their age and size.

Since 1996, more than $25 million has been donated to the SAFE KIDS BUCKLE UP program to address the critical issue of child passenger safety. In addition to inspecting 250,000 child safety seats, SAFE KIDS BUCKLE UP has held more than 6,500 child safety seat checkup events, donated more than 163,000 child safety seats, and sponsored more than 700 GM dealership educational workshops.

Last year, the UAW and GM renewed their commitment of SAFE KIDS BUCKLE UP by agreeing to fund child safety seat donations for low-income families and at-risk children, establishing 30 new permanent child safety seat inspection stations, and placing 30 new mobile child passenger safety check-up vans in communities across the country.

The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW) is one of the largest and most diverse unions in North America, with members in virtually every sector of the economy. The union has approximately 740,000 members and over 500,000 retired members in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. The UAW represents 130,000 hourly and salaried workers at General Motors.

General Motors operates 78 plants in the U.S. and employs 185,000 hourly and salaried workers in the U.S. GM is the world's largest vehicle manufacturer, assembling cars and trucks in the United States under the following brands: Chevrolet, Pontiac, Buick, Oldsmobile, Cadillac, GMC, Saturn, and Hummer.

The UAW-GM Center for Human Resources (CHR) was jointly established in 1984 to meet the education and training needs of UAW-represented workers at General Motors. The Center has become one of the world's largest privately operated training centers, serving the needs of over 130,000 UAW active and retired employees of General Motors. From its headquarters in Detroit, Michigan, the Center offers a wide variety of programs addressing: occupational health and safety and wellness, skill development and education, work-family issues, product quality, and programs that benefit the communities in which UAW members and retirees work and reside.

The National SAFE KIDS Campaign is the first and only national nonprofit organization dedicated solely to the prevention of unintentional childhood injury -- the number one killer of children ages 14 and under. More than three hundred state and local SAFE KIDS coalitions in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico comprise the Campaign. Former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, M.D., Sc.D., is chairman of the Campaign.

Still the only freestanding hospital in Michigan dedicated to the treatment of children, Children's Hospital has been devoted to children's health care since its founding in 1886. Ranked one of the best children's hospitals in the nation, more Michigan pediatricians are trained at Children's Hospital of Michigan than in any other facility.

SOURCE: National SAFE KIDS Campaign