The Metropolitan Police Department today joined with the DCs Clickin'! Coalition to declare zero tolerance for drivers who fail to buckle up kids as part of a nationwide effort to save children's lives. The District of Columbia also announced an expansion of the city's model community outreach program, which features an innovative child safety seat loaner program and a variety of life-saving educational initiatives.

"Here in the District of Columbia, we are embracing the concept of zero tolerance for unbuckled children by using every means at our disposal to make sure children are properly buckled in," said Chief of Police Charles H. Ramsey. "We are saving lives by coupling the strongest occupant protection laws in the nation with strict enforcement and active community involvement to make sure every child has access to a child safety seat appropriate for their age and size."

From today until the Memorial Day weekend, the MPDC is placing an emphasis on drivers with unbuckled children by conducting seat belt and child safety seat enforcement checkpoints throughout the city. The first safety checkpoint was held Monday morning in the 2800 block of First Street, NW, just south of the Children's National Medical Center, where the nationwide initiative was announced. During today's checkpoint, MPDC officers issued a total of 92 notices of infraction for seat belt and child safety seat violations, plus five other moving violations. In addition, officers gave out four safety seats as part of the Project Safe Child initiative.

The penalty for violation of the District's child restraint law is a $55 fine and two points on one's driver's license. The fine for unbelted adults is $50, plus two points. "Together with the DCs Clickin'! Coalition, the MPDC will be out in force this week to ensure that everyone driving in the District of Columbia is obeying our seat belt and child restraint laws and directing people to resources to help them keep child passengers safe," Ramsey said.

Members of the DCs Clickin'! Coalition are also expanding their efforts to give parents and caregivers access to child safety seats and information through the ground-breaking Project Safe Child car seat loaner program. Drivers stopped by MPDC officers for seat belt and child safety seat violations will also receive safety information and be directed to 16 Project Safe Child safety seat loaner locations throughout the city. (Call 202-939-8017 for the locations of the Project Safe Child sites.)

Officials are also planning an expansion of the Project Safe Child program. Kicking off this fall, for the first time, parents will be able to obtain loaner booster seats for young children who are too big for child seats, but too small to ride properly in a seat belt without extra protection. It's a move that is being greeted with enthusiasm by leading emergency medical experts.

"Many parents simply don't know that children need to be in booster seats until they're 40 to 60 pounds and taller than 4 feet, 5 inches. That could be 8 to 10 years old in some cases," said Til Jolly, MD, director of the Center for Injury Prevention and Control at The George Washington University Medical Center. "Too many older kids are being injured and killed because they are not properly restrained in booster seats." Booster seats also make children more comfortable in seat belts, which is an important consideration for parents, Tolly said.

"With one of the highest child injury rates in the nation, the District of Columbia must recommit itself to a zero tolerance policy for unbuckled children. That means enforcing our occupant protection laws and getting the word out to parents about the importance of buckling up their children," said Mayor Williams. "The District is hosting an exposition on child safety this summer, and we will continue our enforcement and public awareness campaign until we reach our goals."

As a community, we are determined to protect every child from the leading risk they face -- traffic crashes," said Ian Swain, Coordinator of the DC SAFE KIDS Coalition. "So DCs Clickin'! is bringing a diverse group of concerned community groups together to spread the word that every District child must be properly buckled up."

DC's efforts have garnered high praise from federal officials. "The District of Columbia is leading the way on child passenger safety and seat belt use," said US Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater. "DC's approach, which combines law enforcement with community outreach, is an excellent formula for improving safety, President Clinton's highest transportation priority. The Clinton Administration has set a national safety belt usage goal of 85 percent by the year 2000.

According to Ricardo Martinez, MD, Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the DC model reinforces the values of strong laws and tough enforcement. "DC is a great example for the rest of the nation. When the community and law enforcement work together, we can save children's lives," said Dr. Martinez.

The national call for zero tolerance for unbuckled children comes just months after the U.S. Department of Transportation credited the two Operation ABC Mobilizations in 1998 with helping to get more than 19 million more Americans to buckle up-- the largest, single-year increase in seat belt use in eight years. The government estimates that if these Americans continue to wear their seat belts, 1,500 lives -- many of them children's -- will be saved each year.

DCs Clickin'! is a community partnership of the DC Department of Public Works, the DC SAFE KIDS Coalition, the Department of Emergency Medicine at The George Washington University Medical Center, the Metropolitan Police Department and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

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