THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

SENATE RESOLUTION

INTRODUCED BY TOMLINSON, PILEGGI, STOUT, BOSCOLA, MELLOW, KASUNIC, DINNIMAN, WILLIAMS, BAKER, ALLOWAY, WASHINGTON, TARTAGLIONE, MUSTO, RAFFERTY, WAUGH, HUGHES, KITCHEN, ERICKSON, PIPPY, O'PAKE, WOZNIAK, WONDERLING, BROWNE, FONTANA, LOGAN, ORIE, STACK, FARNESE, EARLL AND COSTA, MAY 5, 2009

INTRODUCED AND ADOPTED, MAY 5, 2009  

A RESOLUTION

Designating May 16, 2009, as "Child Passenger Safety Day" in

Pennsylvania.

WHEREAS, Motor vehicle crashes remain the leading cause of

death in the United States for children between newborn and 19

years of age; and

WHEREAS, According to an ongoing 11-year study by Partners

for Child Passenger Safety (PCPS), a partnership which involves

The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, State Farm Insurance

companies and the University of Pennsylvania, until reaching 4

feet, 9 inches in height, all children younger than nine years

of age should ride in a child restraint; and

WHEREAS, Using a booster seat with a seat belt instead of

using a seat belt alone for children four to eight years of age

reduces the risk of injury by 58%; and

WHEREAS, Safe Kids Pennsylvania found that almost 85% of

children placed in child safety seats are improperly restrained;

and

WHEREAS, The PCPS study is a scientific and systematic

approach that seeks to determine how and why children are being

killed or injured in motor vehicle crashes; and

WHEREAS, PCPS has created a database containing more than

600,000 crashes involving 875,000 children, representing the

largest source of data on children involved in motor vehicle

crashes; and

WHEREAS, PCPS is the first academic-corporate partnership

devoted to the safety of children in motor vehicles whose

methodology combines in-depth telephone interviews, onsite crash

investigations and computer crash simulations with

interdisciplinary analysis and interpretation; and

WHEREAS, PCPS findings are published regularly in leading

medical and engineering journals and presented at scientific

conferences; and

WHEREAS, PCPS outreach to the automotive and restraint

industries, local communities, policymakers, legislators, public

health educators and the media has improved child occupant

safety; and

WHEREAS, The goal of PCPS is to share information about the

unique safety needs of children and teenage drivers; and

WHEREAS, Child restraint use in this Commonwealth has

increased from 51% in 1999 to 88% in 2008; and

WHEREAS, Since 2001, State Farm Insurance companies have

sponsored "Child Passenger Safety Day," turning research into

action and providing the opportunity for parents to put their

minds at ease by having a trained technician check their

children's car seats and booster seats and provide potentially

lifesaving information; and

WHEREAS, To spread the word of child passenger safety and how

parents and guardians can better protect their children, State

Farm Insurance companies have scheduled 20 free child safety

seat check points across this Commonwealth in May 2009;

therefore be it

RESOLVED, That the Senate designate May 16, 2009, as "Child

Passenger Safety Day" in Pennsylvania.