While’s it’s not the norm, some people, like the owner of the pooch in this photo, do what they can to protect all vehicle occupants, including pets. Although these efforts to restrain pets are worthwhile, many pet owners would be dismayed to know how poorly most pet restraint products would perform in a crash. Anyone riding with pets should consider:
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News
Dr. Marilyn Bull Honored by White House as Champion of Change
Safe Ride News is pleased to report that Dr. Marilyn Bull has received a Champions of Change award from the White House and the U.S. Department of Transportation. Dr. Bull was recognized, along with 10 other recipients, at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., in October. The award honors individuals who have made a positive mark on the community by innovating in the field of transportation safety. (Pictured left DOT head, Secretary Anthony Foxx, presented Dr. Marilyn Bull with a Champions of Change award in October.)
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Best Practice for Children on Airplanes Still Seems Up in the Air!
However, an industry group takes a first step toward standardization of child safety recommendations aboard aircraft
During a busy summer of travel, I wrote several articles for this issue of SRN while waiting in airports and flying on airplanes. Like most CPSTs, I travel with an awareness of the families around me and always perk up when I see a CR. Alas, contrary to safety recommendations, I find that most CRs that make it as far as the gate are gate-checked rather than used on board. It’s understandable that most parents aren’t fully aware of best practice on airplanes; safety messages can be unclear and confusing in a system that allows children under age 2 to ride on a caregiver’s lap. (And, let’s face it, those safety messages need to be very compelling to overcome parents’ understandable desire to save money by not buying a plane ticket for these infants.)
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NHTSA Day-Long Meeting Explores Issue of Seat Belts on School Buses
On July 23, NHTSA convened an eight-hour meeting to discuss the “current state of knowledge” regarding three-point belt systems (aka lap-shoulder belts) on school buses. The meeting’s purpose was to identify operational and policy challenges and solutions regarding the use of lap-shoulder belts on buses and to explore innovative funding approaches that could “serve as a catalyst for change.”
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In-Depth Report Explores Status of CR Recycling
With approximately 10 million CRs sold in the U.S. each year, it stands to reason that this many will also expire or become otherwise unusable—and these typically make their way to our nation’s growing landfills. Two nonprofit organizations from Washington state, CoolMom and Zero Waste Washington, have jointly issued a 69-page report that examines the challenges and opportunities of a better approach: recycling unusable CRs. “Diverting Car Seats from the Waste Stream: An Investigation into the Reuse and Recycling of Children’s Car Seats” takes an in-depth look at the higher-level issues of this topic, like CR manufacturer involvement, emerging materials, funding models, and the various ways that CRs can be processed for recycling. In addition, a series of appendices includes impressive tables that list current collection programs across the country, sorted by type, ownership model, and state.
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Motorcoach Safety: Agency Provides Guidance For Booking a Safer Trip
A motorcoach is a large, non-school bus that does not serve fixed routes (like city transit), but instead travels longer distances, usually on highways. While motorcoaches have a relatively good safety record compared to most other vehicle types, they do not have many of the safety features required of school buses. Nonetheless, groups of children frequently use these types of buses for field trips and sports outings, especially when the trip covers long distances.
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School Bus Evacuation of Students in CSRS Requires Planning, Training
At the Transporting Students with Disabilities and Preschoolers (TSD) Conference in March, Charley Kennington, of Innovative Transportation Solutions, and Kathy Furneaux, of the Pupil Transportation Safety Institute, discussed an important aspect of transporting groups of children: having a plan for how to get all students off the vehicle quickly in an emergency. When a school bus carries children who ride restrained in five-point harnesses, you can readily see how important it is to practice and prepare for emergency evacuation. In fact, knowing how a child would be evacuated in an emergency should be considered as important as learning how the CSRS is installed.
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NHTSA Proposes Changes to Improve LATCH
Can regulatory amendments help LATCH meet its full potential?
On January 23, NHTSA published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding updates it plans for FMVSS 225 and 213 in order to improve the usability of the LATCH system. This NPRM is an important step toward improving ease of use and accessibility of lower and tether anchors, a topic that hasn’t been addressed through regulation since LATCH was initially introduced 15 years ago. It outlines some basic proposals for new regulations from NHTSA and seeks comment on the necessity of further regulation.
First Ride—Not Always a Safe Ride
A new study of 267 newborn infants who were discharged from Oregon Health and Science University Hospital between November 2013 and May 2014 shows that almost all (93 percent) of the parents made significant errors in CR use or installation.
Expired CR Brands, Removed from the LATCH Manual
The following car seat brands have been out of business in the U.S. for many years and their CRs models are expired and should no longer be in use. Therefore, we’ve removed these entries from the 2015 and newer LATCH Manuals. For anyone interested in this information, however, we’ve posted it here: