Program to boost minority children's use of seat belts

Corrections and clarifications: An earlier version of this report misidentified the title for Richard Falcone.

Carolyn Phillpotts, who regularly picks up her grandchildren from daycare and watches them for her daughter, figured she was pretty well versed in how to use child restraints. After all, she is a retired sergeant with the New York Police Department.

But when Phillpotts, 53, took a class on proper child restraint use at her church in June, she learned there was a lot she didn't know. "I didn't know (child) car seats expired," she says. "I didn't realize you have to make sure they're in properly so the child is protected. I didn't know my granddaughter is supposed to be rear-facing until she's two."

Phillpotts, who is African-American, is among a group that safety advocates struggle to reach and educate about proper use of child restraints: minority parents and caregivers.

Research has shown that child safety seats – used properly – sharply reduce the risk of death or injury for young children. But 3 of 4 such seats in use at any given time in the USA are not properly installed, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Other research shows that rates of improper use are highest among minorities.

The class Phillpotts attended was part of a program called "Buckle Up for Life," started 10 years ago by Toyota and Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center to work with churches to reach families in African-American and Hispanic communities.

Buckle Up for Life has trained over 17,000 people in 11 cities on the proper use of vehicle safety restraints; it has distributed more than 40,000 free car seats to families in need, says Kelly Fisher, who manages the program for Toyota.

There is evidence that it's working. In communities with Buckle Up for Life, the observed rate of children unrestrained in cars has dropped from 1 in 4 to less than 1 in 10, Fisher says.

In Cincinnati, Houston, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Chicago, San Antonio, New York, Phoenix, Memphis, Los Angeles and Orange County, Calif., children's hospitals work with churches to bring critical, interactive safety information to parents, caregivers and children. Participants are offered free car seats and help installing them.

"Traditional methods of reaching and informing parents about the risks … don't always reach the minority or (low-income) populations," says Richard Falcone, pediatric surgeon and director of trauma services at Cincinnati Children's Hospital. "We had to come up with partners in those communities so the message wasn't coming from high on the mountain of Children's Hospital. It was coming from people in their community that they trust."

Buckle Up for Life expands this month to Boston, Palo Alto, Calif., and Greenville, N.C. It's also broadening its mission to try and reach all families, with a re-tooled website (buckleupforlife.org) and new public service announcements.

There's a lot at stake. Car crashes are the leading cause of death for children 3-14, according to NHTSA.

In 2011, more than 650 children 12 and younger died as occupants in vehicle crashes and more than 148,000 were injured; 33% of the children killed that year were not buckled up, according to the CDC. Another study found that 45% of black children and 46% of Hispanic children killed in crashes were not buckled up, compared with 26% of white children.

A Michigan study published in January found sharp racial differences among parents in child restraint use. For example, the CDC recommends that all children under 13 ride only in the back seat. The Michigan study found that among 4- to 7-year-olds, twice as many non-white children sat in the front seat as white children.

For all children, white parents were three to four times more likely to use age-appropriate seats than non-white parents. The study, by researchers at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, was based on surveys of 600 parents of children one to 12.

The CDC says that car seats reduce the risk of death for infants less than a year old by 71%, and by 54% for toddlers 1-4 – if they're age-appropriate and properly installed. Booster seats reduce the risk of serious injury by 45% for children 4-8 when compared with seat belt use alone, the CDC says.

Rev. Henry Ellis, pastor of True Gospel Missionary Baptist Church in south central Los Angeles, has worked with Buckle Up for Life for more than five years. His church has trained scores in proper use of safety restraints and distributed dozens of car seats.

Last year, Ellis himself took the training and became a certified child passenger safety technician; he now teaches others how to install child safety seats.

"It's been tremendous," he says. "This program is as essential as the U.S. Border Patrol. It's as essential as any health department or any essential service that a community needs."