Secretary of Transportation Rodney E. Slater The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Community Build

Rodney E. Slater, United States Secretary of Transportation
March 27, 1997

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, March 27, 1997
Contact:  Tim Hurd
Tel. No. (202) 366-9550

REMARKS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY
SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION RODNEY E. SLATER
THE NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY ADMINISTRATION
COMMUNITY BUILD
MARCH 27, 1997
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

In 1995, when President Clinton came to this wonderful place of learning on Martin Luther King s birthday, he said he liked being here because all of you have proved that you can change your lives. And if you can do it, we can change America.

I'm here, to ask all of you to help me change something that many parents are not doing as well as we ought to in America. We need every child properly buckled up in the back of the automobile.

Because of California s tough laws and enforcement efforts, parents pay better attention to this here than anywhere. Almost 90 percent of your kids are buckled up -- that s one of the best rates in the country.

But -- here's the problem -- almost 90 percent are buckled wrong.

Maybe the seat is not anchored tight enough, or the child isn't strapped into the seat tight enough.

Maybe you re in a rush to get here in the morning, and your child is like mine -- not cooperating; or maybe you share cars and the seat is in the other car; and you think I ll just be driving a short distance and I ll buckle the little one up, without the booster.

That is not safe enough. We can do better.

When the child is the age of these kids, it's not the child's responsibility. Buckling is the responsibility of you, and me, and every mom and dad in this country.

Help me educate young parents across Los Angeles to use child safety seats correctly, to take a class like you just took, and to always buckle our children in the back of automobiles.

I know if we all mobilize our efforts, every day in every way, we can do better for our children, and make California a model of safety for our nation.

Thank you.

Source:  National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)