Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 98 Part 1.djvu/294

 98 STAT. 246

PUBLIC LAW 98-319—JUNE 18, 1984 Public Law 98-319 98th Congress Joint Resolution

June 18, 1984 [S.J. Res. 289]

TO designate June 18, 1984, as "National Child Passenger Safety Awareness Day".

Whereas motor vehicle collisions are the primary cause of death of children over the age of six months in the United States; Whereas motor vehicle collisions are the primary cause of the crippling of children in the United States; Whereas more children under the age of five years are killed or crippled as passengers involved in motor vehicle collisions than the total number of children killed or crippled by the seven most common childhood diseases: pertussis, tetanus, diphtheria, measles, mumps, rubella, and polio; Whereas motor vehicle collisions are the leading trauma related cause of spinal cord injuries, epilepsy, and mental retardation in the United States; Whereas during the years 1978 through 1982 nearly three thousand and four hundred children under the age of five years were killed in traffic collisions, and more than two hundred and fifty thousand children were injured in the United States; Whereas an unrestrained child is less protected by padding and energy-absorbing materials than an adult in a motor vehicle collision, because protective devices are placed in areas more likely to benefit adults; Whereas unrestrained children are subject to a significantly higher risk of serious head, spine, chest and abdominal injury in motor vehicle collisions than older passengers because the bodies of children are less developed and provide less protection; Whereas an unrestrained child in a motor vehicle collision faces an increased danger of fatal or serious injury from ejection as well as injuries resulting from contact with the vehicle interior; Whereas an unrestrained child in a motor vehicle not involved in a collision may be killed or injured as a result of sudden stops, turns, swerves, or from the unrestrained child falling from a moving vehicle; Whereas forty-two States and the District of Columbia have enacted laws mandating the use of child safety restraint systems; Whereas only 40 percent of children under the age of five are protected by child safety seats in the United States and national surveys show that over 70 percent of such seats are used incorrectly;

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