National Child Passenger Safety Week is coming up on February 11 - 17. During this week, health and safety specialists will be stepping up education efforts and special activities including, expanded access to child safety seat checkup events, press conferences, and distribution of free educational materials throughout Oregon.

The Alliance for Community Traffic Safety (an I Share the Road partner), has resources, tips, and ways you can get involved with this event all on their website.

They also share the following facts about child passengers:

• 1,354 child passengers under age eight were injured and six were killed in motor vehicle crashes in Oregon last year (ODOT Crash Analysis & Reporting).
• Two out of five of these children were not using child safety seats. This means they were either using ill-fitting adult lap and shoulder belt systems or no child safety seats at all.
• For children injured in crashes, head injuries are the most common and often result in lifelong disabilities.
• Misuse of child safety seats continues to be a problem. Of the 2,580 child safety seats inspected in Oregon, 2,123 required correction - a misuse rate of 82.3%.
• Using the right child safety seat can reduce the chance of crash injury an estimated 71% for infants, 54% for toddlers, and 59% for children in boosters.
• Once a child has outgrown their car seat, a booster seat should be used until safety belts fit correctly, usually not until the child
  reaches 4′9″ in height or is 8 years old.
• Oregon has over four hundred certified child passenger safety technicians. Through their efforts, a total of 69 clinics and 76 fitting stations were held and 1,103 individual child safety seat checks were reported in 2006.
• Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death and injury for children. Risk of serious injury greatly increases in motor vehicle crashes if children are not properly restrained.

You can find out about upcoming child safety seat checkup events and other activities scheduled in Oregon by checking the Child Safety Seat Resource Center website or by calling 1-800-772-1315.