RALPH HOAR
IN MEMORIAM

Raging Hoar Moans
National Child Passenger Safety Week:
A National Disgrace

This is supposed to be "National Child Passenger Safety Week." Actually, it is a national disgrace. In fact, it is little more than an opportunity for the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, child seat manufacturers, automakers and so-called child safety organizations to engage in unseemly finger pointing as they blame parents for inadequately protecting their children. 

Newly appointed Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, the token Democrat in George W. Bush's cabinet, has stepped forward to prove himself equal to the job. He heralded this occasion by lauding "the efforts" of Ford, GM and DaimlerChrysler "in advocating child passenger safety" and then turned on the parents of America: "Studies have indicated that 96 percent of caregivers (sic) were confident that they always install and used child safety seats correctly. However, data from actual safety seat inspections show that at least four out of five children are incorrectly buckled." This is standard industry and safety hack drivel. 

Do they think these parents are idiots or that they would intentionally endanger their children? Parents are sold defectively designed and poorly manufactured child seats, built to antiquated federal standards, with confusing instructions, to put in cars that were not designed with children or their safety in mind. 

Wagging an accusatory finger at parents and lauding Ford, General Motors and DaimlerChrysler for advocating child passenger safety' turns reality on its head. These companies, the safety hacks they pay to create the impression that they're concerned about safety and, it seems, our new Transportation Secretary, would much rather advocate safety than actually do something meaningful about it. 

If the Secretary is concerned about the 1,700 children who die and the 300,000 children who are injured in vehicle crashes each year, he will stop blaming parents who protect their children as best they can with what they are given. Instead, he will rush to update the antiquated federal child seat standard. He will call upon child seat and booster seat manufacturers to design and manufacture seats that are well above any new minimum federal safety standard. He will insist that vehicle manufacturers either offer their own specially designed child protection or specifically recommend child seats that will fit in their vehicles to do the job. 

Secretary Mineta's job is to ensure that manufacturers provide parents with the products they need to adequately protect their children, not to lecture them about their inability to overcome products that are ill-conceived and ill-constructed. Advocating safety is easy. Doing something worthwhile about it is the tough part.

OPTSF1550

2/16/01