National Safe Kids FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
November 1, 2000
Contact: Kellee Edmonds, NSKC (202) 662-0600 Carolyn Markey, General Motors Corporation
(810) 947-3490 Cathy Nedd, Hass Associates-Nedd/Worldwide (313) 567-6333
GM AND THE NATIONAL SAFE KIDS CAMPAIGN RECEIVE PRESTIGIOUS SAFETY AWARDS FROM NTSB FOR CHILD PASSENGER SAFETY SEAT PROGRAM
SAFE KIDS BUCKLE UP protects more than 100,000 children from potential harm.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) today awarded General Motors and The National SAFE KIDS Campaign (NSKC) with the agency’s Special Act Award for their outstanding commitment to child passenger safety through the SAFE KIDS BUCKLE UP (SKBU) program. At a luncheon in Washington, D.C., NTSB Chairman Jim Hall, saluted both organizations and commended their efforts nationwide for checking more than 100,000 child safety seats.
“General Motors and the National SAFE KIDS Campaign are providing a critical service to America’s families,” said Hall. “Many young lives have been saved by the SAFE KIDS BUCKLE UP program. I hope other automakers will take a leadership role to help protect children on our nation’s highways.”
“The National SAFE KIDS Campaign is thrilled to receive this honor from the NTSB,” said Executive Director Heather Paul, Ph.D. “Without the kind of proactive, grassroots outreach demonstrated by the SAFE KIDS BUCKLE UP program and our nearly 300 SAFE KIDS coalitions across the country, thousands of children would be in jeopardy simply because parents and caregivers were not aware or had not been educated on the proper installation of car seats.”
“We are honored to be recognized for this effort by the man who has done so much to address this issue,” said Harry Pearce, GM vice chairman. “Jim Hall’s constant plea to parents and automakers to do a better job of helping to protect children from the number one risk they face has helped all of us to understand what a difference a leader can make. As the first automaker to get involved in car seat checkups on a national basis, General Motors is proud of its partnership with the UAW and SAFE KIDS and our contribution to child passenger safety.”
To date, more than 104,000 child safety seats have been checked. To put this accomplishment in perspective, if one car seat were checked—taking at least 3 minutes to do properly—around the clock each day, it would take six years to achieve the SKBU program’s volume. Of course, such an accomplishment requires help and dedication. Through nearly 300 SAFE KIDS coalitions, the SKBU program has held more than 3,150 car seat checkup events, given away more than 72,000 child safety seats, trained more than 1,900 GM dealer staff and sponsored more than 500 GM dealership educational workshops. Earlier this year, GM donated 51 Chevy Venture minivans to SAFE KIDS coalitions. These vans serve as mobile fitting stations in an effort to take child passenger safety directly to communities.
“UAW-GM Health and Safety staff have conducted countless seat belt checks and car safety talks in communities across America,” said Tom Weekley, co-director UAW-GM Health and Safety. “This prestigious award is a fine tribute to their hard work and dedication.”
More than 1,800 children ages 14 and under are killed in the U.S. each year in car crashes and more than 280,000 are injured. To address this critical issue, General Motors has sponsored SKBU since 1996, investing more than $19 million in community partnerships to support child car seat checkup events across the country. Through General Colin Powell's "America's Promise" initiative, the United Auto Workers (UAW), GM and SAFE KIDS are working with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) to provide education on proper safety seat installation as well as free child safety seats to low-income African-American and Hispanic families.
The NTSB award ceremony followed a checkup event at the Potomac Yard Shopping Center in Alexandria, Va. Educational information was provided to parents to help ensure that children were correctly buckled up. Child safety seats that were determined damaged or recalled were replaced at this event.The National SAFE KIDS Campaign is the first and only national organization dedicated solely to the prevention of unintentional childhood injury – the number one killer of children ages 14 and under. Nearly 300 state and local SAFE KIDS Coalitions in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico comprise the Campaign. Former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, M.D., Sc.D., is chairman of the Campaign. General Motors (NYSE: GM), the world’s largest vehicle manufacturer, designs, buildsand markets cars and trucks worldwide. In1999, GM earned $5.6 billion on sales of $176.6 billion. It employs about 388,000 people globally. GM is investing aggressively in high technology and e-business within its global automotive operations and through such initiatives as e-GM, GM BuyPower, OnStar and its Hughes Electronics Corp. (NYSE: GMH) subsidiary.