TRANSPORTATION, FORD, UNVEIL NEW SAFETY VIDEO TO PROTECT NEWBORNS IN VEHICLES |
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Topics: Ford Motor Company
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National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
March 27, 1997
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, March 27, 1997
NHTSA 17-97
Contact: Tim Hurd
Tel. No. (202) 366-9550
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Rodney E. Slater and Ford Motor Company today announced plans to distribute more than 100,000 copies of an instructional safety video, Protecting Your Newborn, to childbirth educators, hospitals and physicians.
"President Clinton is committed to safety as his top transportation priority," Secretary Slater said. "This video about protecting newborn infants from injuries in crashes continues our progress toward making travel safer for all motorists."
"The video will show parents how to keep their infant children safe in an air bag-equipped car. Passenger safety education begins on the ride home from the hospital for every newborn," said Ricardo Martinez, M.D., head of the department's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). "We want to provide a free copy with an instructor s guide to each and every educator working with new and expectant parents."
The 29-minute video is part of NHTSA s comprehensive, long-term strategy to preserve the important safety benefits of air bags while minimizing their danger to children and at-risk adults. It presents information about transporting newborn infants safely and also includes information about other parenting topics, Dr. Martinez said.
It was produced by the NHTSA at the request of U.S. Rep. Frank R. Wolf, chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation who has been a leader on transportation safety issues. Ford Motor Company provided funding to enable the Department of Transportation to distribute the video.
Ford has a history of safety leadership and this cooperative program with NHTSA reinforces our ongoing dedication to that effort. We believe that this NHTSA-produced video contains much needed information for parents and we're pleased that we can help get out that information to those who need it, said Helen Petrauskas, vice president, Environmental and Safety Engineering, Ford Motor Company.
The video can be used without an instructor through hospital in-house video systems and in physicians waiting rooms. An instructor s guide with curriculum materials and parent handouts is available for use by childbirth educators and others who teach prenatal classes and who wish to use the video in classroom settings.
Agencies that helped develop the content for the video were the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, the National Center for Child Abuse and Neglect, the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the National Transportation Safety Board.
"Newborn infants must be placed in rear-facing infant seats and must never be placed in front of an air bag," Dr. Martinez said. "The safest place for all children in a car or truck is properly restrained in an appropriate child safety seat or wearing a safety belt in the back seat," Dr. Martinez said.
NHTSA recently announced a comprehensive strategy to preserve the benefits of air bags while minimizing their risks to children and certain adults. Education efforts like today's program are part of the short-term solution. NHTSA recently amended its crash protection standard to allow manufacturers additional leeway in producing less powerful air bags; extended its policy of permitting manufacturers to install manual cutoff switches in vehicles without back seats or back seats too small for child safety seats; and required new, highly visible warning labels for all new cars, light trucks and child safety seats.