PRINTER'S NO. 825
No. 121 Session of 2005
INTRODUCED BY TOMLINSON, MELLOW, D. WHITE, SCARNATI, BOSCOLA,
GREENLEAF, FERLO, C. WILLIAMS, RAFFERTY, MUSTO, O'PAKE,
CONTI, PILEGGI, KASUNIC, LOGAN, THOMPSON, COSTA, ERICKSON,
KITCHEN, WONDERLING, WENGER, TARTAGLIONE, STOUT AND LAVALLE,
MAY 11, 2005
INTRODUCED AND ADOPTED, MAY 11, 2005
A RESOLUTION
1 Designating May 21, 2005, as "Child Passenger Safety Day" in
2 Pennsylvania.
3 WHEREAS, Motor vehicle crashes remain the leading cause of
4 death for children between two and 14 years of age in the United
5 States; and
6 WHEREAS, According to the National Highway Traffic Safety
7 Administration, 227,000 children were injured and 1,543 children
8 were killed in car crashes in 2002; and
9 WHEREAS, The findings from an ongoing study called "Partners
10 for Child Passenger Safety" (PCPS) found that 83% of children
11 between four and eight years of age are incorrectly restrained
12 in adult seat belts; and
13 WHEREAS, The partnership, which involves The Children's
14 Hospital of Philadelphia, State Farm Insurance Companies and the
15 University of Pennsylvania, also found that 82% of child car
16 seats are misused in some way; and
1 WHEREAS, The PCPS study is a scientific and systematic
2 approach that seeks to determine how and why children are being
3 killed or injured in motor vehicle crashes; and
4 WHEREAS, PCPS has created a database containing more than
5 223,000 crashes involving 336,000 children, representing the
6 largest source of data on children involved in motor vehicle
7 crashes; and
8 WHEREAS, PCPS is the first academic-corporate partnership
9 devoted to the safety of children in motor vehicles whose
10 methodology combines in-depth telephone interviews, on-site
11 crash investigations and computer crash simulations with
12 interdisciplinary analysis and interpretation; and
13 WHEREAS, PCPS findings are published regularly in leading
14 medical and engineering journals and presented at scientific
15 conferences, and PCPS outreach to the automotive and restraint
16 community, policymakers, legislators, public health educators
17 and the media has improved child occupant safety; and
18 WHEREAS, The goal of PCPS is to share the information about
19 how people can do a better job of protecting their children; and
20 WHEREAS, "Child Passenger Safety Day" turns research into
21 action and is an excellent opportunity for parents to put their
22 minds at ease by having a trained technician check their
23 children's car seats and booster seats and provide potentially
24 lifesaving information; and
25 WHEREAS, To spread the word of child passenger safety and how
26 parents and guardians can better protect their children, State
27 Farm Insurance Companies have scheduled 23 free child safety
28 seat checkpoints across this Commonwealth in 2005; therefore be
29 it
30 RESOLVED, That the Senate designate May 21, 2005, as "Child
20050S0121R0825 - 2 -
1 Passenger Safety Day" in Pennsylvania.
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