Gracias y buenos días, amigos.

I am pleased to be in the great state of New York, a state that truly understands the vital importance of investing in traffic safety education. This is the first time I’ve had the privilege to address and meet and talk with some of the staunchest Hispanic advocates for child passenger safety.

I am happy to be able to speak to you today and reiterate our partnership and commitment to our Hispanic community.

I want to thank our national partners in the Corazon de mi Vida program for your efforts to raise seat-belt awareness. Thanks to Becky Barrera and her staff from the National Latino Children’s Institute for their tireless efforts in organizing and hosting this event. I also want to express appreciation to Marco Capalino and his team at Nationwide Insurance for their continued support of the national Corazón de mi vida program. 

These partnerships are indispensable to our continued mutual success. They demonstrate the type of partnerships NHTSA strongly encourages because they focus many different resources toward a common mission—telling parents about the life-saving benefits of child safety seats. This collaboration will help not only this community but children throughout the state.

Safety is a top priority of Secretary Norman Mineta and the U.S. Department of Transportation. But the job of saving lives, especially that of our children, falls on all of us. Saving lives and reducing preventable injuries is a mission for this physician. That is why I am proud to participate in this important event.  

Many people think childhood diseases are the leading cause of death for young children. That is not the case. In fact, motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death between the ages of 4 and 8. Every year, more than 500 children ages 4 to 8 are killed in vehicle crashes.

What’s most disturbing is that the majority of children who are killed in a crash are totally unrestrained. Traffic crashes kill more than 1,700 children each year. Another 300,000 are injured. Some of these injuries affect children’s lives forever.

In the few minutes we are here for this event, many people will be injured or die in motor vehicle crashes. Every 14 seconds someone in America will be injured in a traffic crash, and every 12 minutes someone will be killed in a crash.

In the year 2000, nearly 42,000 people lost their lives in motor vehicles. Another 3.2 million were injured, and 40 percent of the persons killed in traffic crashes died in alcohol-related crashes.

The sad part about this situation is most of these deaths were preventable. Over 9,000 lives could have been saved in year 2000, if people had simply buckled up.

February 10–16 has been set aside to observe National Child Passenger Safety Week. We are reminding parents and caregivers that all children should be in the backseat and properly restrained in an appropriate child safety seats, booster seat or seat belt, every time they ride in a vehicle.

We have made great strides over the last few years to protect children. Death rates among children in cars and trucks have been reduced because of an increase in child safety seats, booster seat use and seat belt use.

Unfortunately, that success does not apply to all segments of our society. Child safety seats save lives, but children in minority communities are at a greater risk of injury and death from motor vehicle crashes. They are at greater risk because they are less likely to ride in the backseat, in child safety seats.

Per vehicle miles traveled, black children die at almost three times the rate of white children. In the Hispanic community, the picture is no brighter. Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for Latinos age 1 through 44. At the highest risk are Latino children ages 5 to 12, who are 72 percent more likely to die in a motor vehicle crash than non-Hispanic children.

The Hispanic community is growing seven times faster than the rest of the U.S. population. According to the 2000 census, the Hispanic population has grown almost 60 percent since the 1990 census. It is estimated the Hispanic population will grow to 59 million by the year 2030, making Hispanics the single largest minority group in the United States.  

As the Hispanic population grows, a greater proportion of future crash injuries and fatalities, as well as the nonuse or misuse of seat belts, will emerge as a significant public heath issue. This represents a major challenge because traffic safety often takes a backseat to more pressing issues, such as crime, poverty, and economic development in many of these diverse communities. Moreover, 35.5 percent of the U.S. Latino population is foreign-born and newly arrived Latinos may be unfamiliar with U.S. motor vehicle laws.

We know language barriers, cultural traditions, and economic hardships contribute to these disparities. Add the fact that many Hispanics tend to drive older vehicles that may not have shoulder belts or airbags. Often the family car may be overcrowded and may not have enough seat belts for every passengers, much less enough space for a child safety seat.

Many loving parents, grandparents, and friends subscribe to the myth that by holding their child in their arms, they will provide protection in a crash. The reality could be death or injury for the child. Children should always go in the backseat in a child seat that is age- and weight-appropriate. Everyone else in the car should set a good example by buckling up—always.

By working together, we can identify culturally appropriate solutions to keep all children safe in vehicles.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is committed to achieving this goal through continued safety research and targeted public awareness campaigns. We applaud and encourage public and private partnerships between the business community, minority organizations, and public agencies. Programs such as the one we’re participating in today will ensure that all parents have knowledge about—and access to—the life-saving benefits of child safety seats.

NHTSA continues to fund and expand the Corazón de mi vida program, whose goal is to make buckling up a habit. The program builds on parents’ love for their children and invites them to become active partners in keeping their children safe and helping to create a safe community. 

In addition to the Corazón de mi vida initiative, NHTSA continues to promote programs that increase the number of certified Spanish-speaking child passenger safety seat experts around the country. We have also embarked on the adaptation of the 32-hour NHTSA standardized child passenger safety training into Spanish. Language cannot be a barrier when it comes to helping parents protect their children

We are committed to working with diverse national and community- based partners to develop and market culturally relevant programs and material. We do this to raise greater awareness within minority populations about the importance of traffic safety.

Our efforts are being expanded so our target populations can access highway safety information and education. I am proud to announce NHTSA’s new multicultural outreach Web site, which has separate sections for Latino/Hispanic, Black/African American, Asian American/Pacific Islander, and American Indian/Alaska Native. The Web site is designed to make materials readily available to the public. It contains an extensive Spanish-language section. Some of the key architects of that site are here today, if you need further assistance.

I want to mention that we have several other groups and individuals that have partnered with Corazón de mi vida in the audience. I want to thank them for their support: Deputy Director Alexander Bentencourt from ASPIRA Association of New York; Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrión; and Commissioner Raymond Martinez. I also want to thank NHTSA regional administrator Tom Louizou and his staff for all their hard work on today’s program and for making it a success.

For the children, if we combine our efforts, every day in every way, we can help them grow up and be healthy and productive citizens. Remember amigos, ponganse el cinturón siempre, por favor.

Muchas gracias.

 

Dr. Jeffrey Runge
National Highway Traffic Safety Administrator