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Child Passenger Safety Law Strengthened Today

1 December 2000

Child Passenger Safety Law Strengthened Today; Violators of Law Can Now Get Two Points on Their Driver's License

    RALEIGH, N.C., Dec. 1 Beginning today, any driver who
fails to restrain their children in accordance with the state's child
passenger safety law will be penalized in the form of two driver's license
points if they are stopped and cited by a law enforcement officer.
    North Carolina's child passenger safety law states that all children up to
age 16 must be restrained regardless of their seating position.  In addition,
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.
    "North Carolina now has another tool to get motorists to realize how very
crucial it is to get their children buckled up each and every time they are on
the road," said Joe Parker, director of the Governor's Highway Safety Program
(GHSP).  "We have every hope that the two points penalty will serve its
intended purpose and change the behavior of those who are not in the habit of
restraining their children."
    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 and
used, reduce the risk of death 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
will also reach the ears of those who attend tonight's "Tree of Life"
tree-lighting ceremony and candlelight vigil, which will be held on the south
side of the State Capitol.  The public event, which is being co-sponsored by
Mothers Against Drunk Driving and the GHSP, remembers all those who died in
traffic crashes on North Carolina roads in 1999, with an emphasis on those who
were killed in alcohol-related crashes.
    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.