Nationwide Crackdown Takes Aim at Deadbeat Drivers
23 November 1999
Nationwide Crackdown Takes Aim at Deadbeat Drivers - Adults Who Knowingly Risk Kids' Lives by Failing to Buckle Them Up; Survey Finds That Most Drivers Who Admit They Don't Buckle Up Children Know it's Both Dangerous and Illegal But Do it Anyway WASHINGTON, Nov. 22 -- As more than 7,000 law enforcement
agencies launch the nation's largest-ever crackdown to save kids' lives by
stepping up enforcement of child passenger safety laws, a new survey shows
that three out of four drivers who admit they don't always buckle up kids know
it's the law that children must be buckled and that traffic crashes are the
leading cause of death to children.
"Drivers who consciously break the law and knowingly place children at
deadly risk by failing to buckle them up are deadbeat drivers and they need to
be stopped, ticketed and fined to protect innocent children," said Janet
Dewey, Executive Director of the Air Bag & Seat Belt Safety Campaign.
The survey released today found that 13 percent of Americans who regularly
drive children age 12 and under actually admit that they don't always make
sure children are buckled up. Government data shows that one out of four
children ride completely unbuckled, putting more than 15 million kids at risk.
The survey also found that the vast majority (70 percent) of Americans
feel angry when they see unbuckled children in a car. Parents of children age
12 and under are the most likely to be alarmed and outraged by deadbeat
drivers.
"The survey results are disturbing -- drivers who fail to ensure that
their passengers, especially children, are buckled up are needlessly
endangering them and violating the law. Law enforcement authorities should
continue to take the necessary steps to aggressively enforce the law," said
Jim Hall, Chair of the National Transportation Safety Board.
The last two years of periodic Mobilizations have led to an increase in
child restraint use among children ages 0-15 from 65 to 75 percent. More
importantly, child fatalities among children ages 0-4 nationwide have
decreased by 12.3 percent. In order to build on these gains, tens of
thousands of officers in all 50 states will again be stopping and ticketing
drivers with unbuckled children during the week of Thanksgiving, from November
22-28.
"Our partnership with the Mobilization and increased enforcement have
helped put the nation within striking distance of the Clinton-Gore
Administration's goal of decreasing child fatalities by 15 percent by the
year 2000," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney E. Slater. "Safety is
this Department's top goal, and I applaud the work of law enforcement officers
around the country to ensure that children are buckled up. I am proud of the
efforts and results we have been making at the U.S. Department of
Transportation."
The Air Bag & Seat Belt Safety Campaign commissioned the study to learn
more about people who don't buckle up kids and how the public feels about
them. Among the findings:
* 71 percent of deadbeat drivers -- those who drive children ages 12 and
under who admit they don't always buckle up kids -- know traffic
crashes are the leading cause of death and serious injury to children.
* 72 percent of deadbeat drivers know it is illegal to drive with an
unrestrained child in their state.
* Four out of five people surveyed agree with the statement, "people who
fail to buckle up their child passengers should be considered guilty of
child endangerment."
* Two out of three deadbeat drivers say that it will take citations with
stiff penalties such as license points to make them more likely to
protect their kids.
It's the law in all 50 states that children must be restrained. Yet six
out of ten children who die in crashes are unbuckled. Of those, nearly half
would be alive today if they had just been buckled up.
"The survey clearly reinforces how important these Mobilizations are and
why law enforcement is so committed to this effort," said Colonel Michael
Robinson, Director of the Michigan State Police and President of the
International Association of Chiefs of Police. "The real possibility of a
ticket is the best way to motivate people who know it's wrong to let kids ride
unbuckled, but do it anyway."
As the fifth Operation ABC Mobilization in the past two years gets
underway, officers nationwide will step up enforcement of child passenger
safety laws by conducting child safety checkpoints and saturation patrols and
by looking for child passenger safety violations. Officers will also be
enforcing seat belt laws, because, consistent with several studies, the survey
finds that drivers who admit to not always buckling up kids are less likely to
always wear their own seat belt. According to a study in the journal of the
American Academy of Pediatrics, a buckled driver is three times more likely to
buckle up a child than an unbuckled driver.
Lt. Terry Taylor, of the Rock Hill Police Department, Rock Hill, South
Carolina, attended the national launch of the Mobilization to speak to why
officers around the nation are so committed to the effort. "I'll never forget
coming upon a crash scene early in my career 18 years ago where I discovered a
young mother weeping and praying, holding her dead baby in her arms," said Lt.
Taylor. "Tragically, in the back seat of her smashed car was a child safety
seat that would have saved her baby's life, if only she had used it that
night. I take part in the Mobilizations because I know they will help prevent
tragedies like that one."
In just two years since the Operation ABC Mobilizations began:
* Restraint use for children, ages 0-15, has climbed from 65 to 75
percent. Restraint use among toddlers jumped dramatically from 60 to
87 percent
* Child fatalities for children ages 0-4 have dropped by 12.3 percent
* Nationwide seat belt use rose from 62 percent to 70 percent -- the
highest use rate ever -- with 19 million more Americans buckling up.
This was a study of 800 adult drivers conducted by Public Opinion
Strategies, Sept. 25-30, 1999 and has a margin of error of +/- 3.46 percent in
the 95% confidence interval.
The Operation ABC Mobilization, sponsored by the Air Bag & Seat Belt
Safety Campaign in cooperation with the U.S. DOT and NHTSA, is part of the
Buckle Up America Campaign, which is an ongoing national safety initiative to
increase seat belt use and save the lives of Americans. The effort is
supported by the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the National
Sheriffs Association, Operation CARE, the National Organization of Black Law
Enforcement Executives and more than 1,000 businesses and community
organizations.
