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New Addendum to Child Passenger Safety Law Effective December 1

27 November 2000

New Addendum to Child Passenger Safety Law Effective December 1; Two Points to be Added to the License of Any Driver Who Violates CPS Law

    RALEIGH, N.C., Nov. 27 Drivers in North Carolina who fail
to properly restrain their children have only a few more days to change their
behavior before a law takes effect that will definitely get their attention.
    Beginning Friday, December 1, any driver who fails to adhere to the
state's child passenger safety law will be subject to getting two points added
to their driver's license.  North Carolina's child passenger safety law states
that all children up to age 5 and up to 40 pounds must be properly restrained
in a child safety seat -- in the back seat -- if that vehicle has an active
front passenger-side airbag.  In addition, all children up to age 16 must be
buckled regardless of their seating position.
    "I wish it didn't take a new law and associated driver's license points to
get motorists to realize how important it is to properly restrain their
children each and every time they are in a vehicle," said Joe Parker, director
of the Governor's Highway Safety Program (GHSP).  "However, protecting
children on our roads is a top priority in this state.  I believe this law,
coupled with our already-strong child passenger safety laws, will prove
effective in getting children buckled up."
    Last year in North Carolina, more than 2,200 children under age of 16 were
either killed or seriously injured because they were riding unrestrained at
the time of a crash.  Statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration reveal that child safety seats, when properly installed, reduce
the risk of death in by 71 percent for infants and 54 percent for toddlers.
Seat belts, when worn correctly, increase the chance of surviving a crash by
45-60 percent.
    Getting the message out about the significance of buckling up children was
so important that it was incorporated into the theme of this fall's "Booze It
& Lose It" campaign, which was launched on November 17 with simultaneous
kickoffs in Charlotte, Greensboro and Raleigh.  According to the Journal of
the American Medical Association, nearly two of every three children killed in
alcohol-related crashes are passengers riding with an impaired driver.  In the
majority of these cases, the impaired driver didn't have the presence of mind
to make sure the child was buckled up.
    Eleven unrestrained North Carolina children under age 16 died while
traveling with an impaired driver in 1997, and three died in 1999.  So far
this year, at least three North Carolina children have died in similar
circumstances.
    In another attempt to reach people across the state with the message to
buckle up children, the GHSP has printed brochures detailing the "two points"
law in both English and Spanish.