[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 7 (Monday, February 17, 1997)]
[Pages 164-165]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 6972--National Child Passenger Safety Week, 1997

February 8, 1997

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    Children are our Nation's most precious gift, and one of our most 
profound responsibilities is protecting their health, well-being, and 
safety. Nowhere is this duty more critical than on America's streets and 
highways.
    Automobile accidents are the leading cause of death for America's 
young people. It is tragic that a high proportion of these deaths could 
be prevented, but are not. For example, we know that seat belts save 
lives--last year they prevented the deaths of almost 10,000 Americans--
and, yet, many still fail to wear them.
    I encourage all Americans to take a few simple steps to ensure that 
their families travel safely. The most important rule is also the 
simplest: The safest place for children is the back seat. Also, parents 
and guardians must always make sure that children are secured, either in 
a locked seat belt or in an appropriate child safety seat.
    I commend the Department of Transportation for its ``Patterns for 
Life'' program, begun in 1996 to focus attention on correct child safety 
seat use and the proper positioning of children and their safety seats 
away from air bags. Working through national safety organizations and 
State public safety and highway offices, this program offers a network 
of qualified child passenger safety trainers to provide communities with 
the valuable resources they need to reduce motor vehicle-related deaths 
and injuries.
    Laws exist in every State and the District of Columbia that require 
proper restraints for younger children. However, 40 percent of our 
children under five are still not properly restrained. We must do better 
to enforce the existing laws and protect our precious cargo.
    The steps we take now will make our roads safer and our children 
more secure. My Ad

[[Page 165]]

ministration is striving to increase the use of seat belts throughout 
the Nation. We are also working with automobile makers, car dealers, 
private organizations, and insurance companies to teach parents how to 
install child safety seats properly, and new technologies will 
eventually make air bags safer for children.
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the 
Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim February 
9 through February 15, 1997, as National Child Passenger Safety Week. I 
urge all Americans to help reduce injuries and the tragic loss of life 
on our highways by buckling up every child in an approved restraint, in 
the vehicle's back seat. And let us all help spread these important 
child safety messages throughout our communities. By doing so, we can 
save many young lives.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this eighth day of 
February, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-seven, and 
of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and 
twenty-first.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., February 11, 
1997]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on 
February 12.