Children's Safety Network Newsletter | Upcoming CSN Child Passenger Safety Webinar

CSN eNewsletter

October 3, 2023

Note from Our Director

Dear Partners,

October features many child injury prevention awareness events on topics such as bullying prevention, sudden unexpected infant death prevention, and teen driver safety.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 2021 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), the percentage of high school students who reported being bullied at school decreased from 20% in 2019 to 15% in 2021. While this is a promising improvement, bullying continues to be a serious problem affecting youth. Below are some CSN resources on bullying prevention:

Sudden unexpected infant death also remains an important child safety issue. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), around 3,500 sudden unexpected infant deaths occur in the United States each year. Evidence-based practices to promote safe sleep include placing babies to sleep on their backs, on a firm surface, and in the same room as their parents or guardian, but not in the same bed. The following CSN resources can help inform your safe sleep promotion efforts:

Teen driver traffic crashes is another major cause of preventable child injuries and deaths. In 2021, 2,116 young drivers died in traffic crashes, and 203,256 were injured (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2021). CSN resources on this topic include:

Resources from our CSN-A partners are highlighted in purple.

Please widely share these resources with your networks.

Kindly,

Jennifer Leonardo

Upcoming CSN Webinar — Protecting Kids in Cars: Approaches to Child Passenger Safety

Vehicle crashes are a leading cause of injury, hospitalization, and death for American children, making it a leading public health concern. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), in 2021, an average of 3 children aged 14 and under were killed and 445 were injured every day in traffic crashes, and of child passengers who died in a crash and for whom restraint use was known, 40% were not restrained or buckled up.

In CSN's upcoming webinar, Protecting Kids in Cars: Approaches to Child Passenger Safety, Joe Colella, Director of Child Passenger Safety for the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association (JPMA), will help attendees better understand what occurs during a crash and how proper restraint selection and use saves lives and reduces injuries. Throughout the presentation, he will discuss the value of car seat education, child restraint engineering, occupant protection law enactment, active and visible law enforcement, and ongoing evidence in peer-reviewed literature.

Cassandra Herring, who leads Child Occupant Protection efforts for Safe Kids Worldwide, will address community-based strategies for ensuring proper installation and use of car seats, including in-person and virtual inspections. Ms. Herring will also present Safe Kids Worldwide’s new strategic focus on equity in child safety, designed to identify and engage with families and communities that are at increased risk of preventable injury.