Ohio House, Judiciary Committee
Representative Jim Butler, Chairman
March 3, 2014
House Bill 30
Kimberly Schwind
Ohio Conference of AAA Clubs
Good afternoon Chairman Butler,Vice Chairman Manning, Ranking Member Stinziano and members of the Ohio House Judiciary Committee. Thank you for allowing me to speak today. My name is Kimberly Schwind. I am the Senior Public Relations Manager at AAA Ohio Auto Club, headquartered in Worthington, Ohio. I’m speaking today on behalf of the Ohio Conference of AAA Clubs, which is composed of the seven AAA Clubs in the state and represents over 2 million Ohio motorists, your constituents.
House Bill 30proposes to make the failure to properly secure a child, younger than eight and less than four feet nine inches tall, in a motor vehicle a primary offense. AAA fully supports this proposal.
As a leading Child Passenger Safety advocate AAAworks diligently to help educate motorists on the proper way to safely secure children in child safety seats, through safety seat checks throughout the state. In addition, AAA has long pushed for mandatory use of child safety restraint systems for children of all ages, here in Ohio. We were strong supporters for H.B. 320, which was signed into law in 2009 and still stands today. It is this law that H.B. 30 proposes to enhance. We believe the proposed enhancements will help save lives and hold parents and caregivers accountable for properly securing children in motor vehicles.
Traffic crashes are the leading cause of death for children, partly because most – nearly 75 percent – of them are unbuckled or improperly secured, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures (“Transportation Review: Child Passenger Protection,” 2011). Older children are more likely than younger children to be improperly or completely unrestrained.
Among children, ages 7-8, killed in crashes four out of ten were completely unrestrained, 42 percent were using adult seat belts and fewer than 10 percent were actually using booster seats (NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and General Estimates System (GES) data, analyzed by AAA and the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety).
To maximize safety, AAA recommends that states pass laws requiring all passengers be restrained; especially those under age 18. Also, booster seats should be required for children (at least) up to eight years old or 4 feet 9 inches. All should be enforced on a primary basis.
All states, including Ohio, currently have laws requiring child restraints for children up to age 4 and/or 40 pounds, which are enforced on a primary basis. In addition, 49 states and the District of Columbia have booster seat laws. Of those 49 states, only Ohio is enforced on a secondary basis.The rest are primary enforcement laws.
Children, ages 4-8 that are properly restrained in booster seats are 45 percent less likely to sustain injuries in crashes than kids restrained by seat belts alone (Arbogast, K. B., Jermakian, J. S., Kallan, M. J., & Durbin, D. R. (2009). Effectiveness of belt positioning booster seats: an updated assessment. Pediatrics, 200909082,).
Booster seats help protect children from injury and death in crashes by ensuring that the adult seat belt fits properly. Proper fit reduces the risk of “lap belt syndrome,” which occurs when the lap belt portion of the adult seat belt rides up into a child’s abdomen, potentially causing internal injuries to vital organs. Safe Kids USA says using properly installed child safety seats, instead of seat belts, can reduce a child’s risk of injury by up to 82 percent and risk of death by up to 28 percent.
Since Ohio is the only state with a secondary booster seat law, there is no research comparing the effectiveness of secondary and primary booster seat laws. However, studies have proven the effectiveness of primary enforcement laws on child passenger safety in general.
A study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS, “Drivers’ Attitudes toward Front or Rear Child Passenger Belt Use and Seat Belt Reminders at these Seating Positions,” January 2013) showed that child belt use is higher in states with primary enforcement. We believe the proposed bill will help ensure more children are properly restrained and safe while riding in the car.
AAA supports this bill, and sees it as another step in the right direction. We respectfully recommend that the legislature consider extending the primary enforcement of the seat belt law even further – for all children younger than 18 – in the future. Research shows that such a law would further enhance the safety of our most precious cargo. In fact, the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia found that children, ages 13-15, in a secondary enforcement state are twice as likely to be unrestrained than children in a primary state.
Mr. Chairman and members, AAA feels that this bill will help protect Ohio’s youngest and most vulnerable passengers in motor vehicles and we urge passage of the bill. Thank you for your time, and I am happy to answer any questions.