PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION
Oklahoma continues to have a significant problem in
child passenger safety restraint use. Surveys indicate that use rates
range from 84.2 percent for infants and small children riding with a
belted driver to 27.5 percent for the same group riding with an unbelted
driver. In 1999, 61.5 percent of fatality victims age eight and under
were not using any type of restraint system. Additionally, 359 children
were injured when safety equipment was not in use. Misuse of safety
equipment also contributes to deaths and injuries to small children each
year. Less than one percent of the car seats checked by Emergency
Medical Services Authority (EMSA) personnel in the past year were
correctly installed. Moreover, many parents move children between four
and eight years old to seat and shoulder belts far too soon.
GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
To address the problem of deaths and injuries to
infants and small children, the EMSA developed the Child Safety Seat
Training and Education Program in 2000. Its goal is to increase the use
and proper use of child restraint systems within the EMSA service areas
through the following objectives:
- Train 95 percent of EMSA managers and 100 percent of new field personnel
in the use and proper use of child passenger restraint systems. Train
20 percent of existing field personnel each year until all have received
Child Passenger Safety (CPS) training;
-
Train at least one NHTSA certified instructor,
and train six employees to the level of NHTSA-certified technicians
during the first two program years;
-
Provide a fitting station where car seats can
be checked daily by appointment in Oklahoma City and Tulsa;
-
Provide regularly scheduled car seat checkups
at EMSA headquarters in both cities; and
-
Promote the program through partnerships with
local media and speaking engagements.
STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES
EMSA medics see first hand every day the tragic
effects of motor vehicle crashes. They also see the incredible
life-saving benefits of wearing seat belts and placing children in child
safety seats. The EMSA “Backseat Buddies” Program was specifically
designed to use the existing personnel of the largest emergency medical
services group in the State to provide education, training and hands-on
experience to parents and caregivers of children eight and under. These
activities were intended to promote safety belt usage among that same
group:
-
Early in the project, partnerships were formed
with local television stations (KWTV, CBS affiliate in Oklahoma
City, and KJRH, NBC affiliate in Tulsa), as well as a major ice
cream and dairy store chain (Braum’s). The television stations
carried live shots from car seat checkups during local news
segments. Braum’s passed out ice cream and coupons at the events,
placed posters with program information and event schedules, and
included promotional handouts in carry-out bags.
-
Nine Child Passenger Safety training classes
were conducted for 238 EMSA personnel, including one 4-day NHTSA
Certified Technician training class where ten employees reached
technician status and one employee became a NHTSA certified
instructor.
-
Between January and September 2001, over 2,900
seats were inspected at 36 regularly scheduled car seat checkups.
EMSA also provided speakers, promoted passenger safety, distributed
literature, and inspected car seats at 12 other Oklahoma City and
Tulsa functions. During these events, there were only 21 car seats
that were properly installed.
-
There were 2,383 seats distributed to
low-income/high risk families, including 792 booster seats. Many
caregivers were unaware that children should be placed in booster
seats after they have outgrown their regular car seats.
-
In September, a local television station
reported about how one little girl’s life may have been saved
through the program. Within minutes of an EMSA paramedic properly
installing her seat, the child was involved in a rollover crash that
might have resulted in serious injury or death – instead she
escaped completely unharmed.
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