[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 8 (Monday, February 24, 1997)]
[Pages 196-197]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's Radio Address

February 15, 1997

    Good morning. Today I'm pleased to announce a major new step in our 
efforts to protect America's children, a universal system for attaching 
child safety seats in cars. This system, developed by a blue ribbon 
commission of industry and consumer groups, will make safety seats 
easier to install and more secure on the road. It will save young lives.
    In my State of the Union Address, I issued a call to action to all 
Americans to prepare our people for the 21st century. Building strong 
families is central to that mission. That's why we must do all that we 
can to help parents do all they can to live up to one of the greatest 
responsibilities anyone can have, to care for a child.
    Parents are always on the lookout to make sure their children are 
safe. That's especially true when you get in the car. Thousands of 
children are killed in car accidents every year; tens of thousands more 
are injured.
    Even though America's cars and roads are the safest in the world, we 
must make them safer. That's why today, the final day of National Child 
Passenger Safety Week, I'd like to talk with you about the steps we're 
taking to save more lives on the road.
    First, we will continue to stress the fundamental rules of safety: 
seatbelts, safety seats for small children, children 12 and under 
buckled up and in the back seat. Last month, I instructed the outgoing 
Transportation Secretary, Federico Pena, to develop a plan to get more 
Americans to wear seatbelts. I'm delighted to be joined today by our new 
Transportation Secretary, Rodney Slater, who came to us from the Federal 
Highway Administration. He knows a lot about this issue, and he will 
present that plan to me in March. When he does, I will be ready to 
review it and act on it.
    We must also continue to support law enforcement in its effort to 
increase compliance with safety laws.
    Second, we have taken action to make it clear that on America's 
roads there is no room for alcohol or drugs. We fought to make it 
illegal for all young people under 21 to drive with any alcohol in their 
blood, and 34 States now have these zero-tolerance laws. We're also 
developing a plan to make teens pass a drug test as a condition of 
getting a driver's license.
    Third, we've worked to make air bags, one of our most important 
safety tools, safer for children. All cars and safety seats now come 
with warning labels to remind drivers to keep children in the back seat. 
Plans are underway to permit manufacturers to install less powerful air 
bags and to phase in a new generation of ``smart'' air bags. Air bags 
have saved a lot of lives. With these improvements, they'll save even 
more.
    And today we're taking a fourth step: We will make child safety 
seats safer. These seats are the most effective safety device to protect 
very young children. In car crashes, they reduce the risk of death or 
serious injury to infants by 70 percent. They cut the fatality and 
injury rate for children aged 1 to 4 in half. But while all 50 States 
have car seat laws, studies show that 40 percent of the time young 
children do not even ride in safety seats, and even when they are placed 
in child

[[Page 197]]

safety seats, 80 percent of the time children are either not fully 
secured or the car seats are not properly attached.
    The fact is, despite parents' best efforts, car seats are hard to 
install. Not all 100 models of car seats fit in all 900 models of 
passenger cars. And even when they do, it's no simple task to put them 
in place. Seat belts are not designed primarily to hold child safety 
seats. Anyone who's wrestled with a car seat knows what I'm talking 
about. Thousands of frustrated parents have called our Transportation 
Department hotline with questions about how to use car seats properly.
    Parents are not alone in their concerns. Automobile and car seat 
makers, consumer organizations, the medical community all have felt 
there was too much confusion surrounding child seat safety. In response 
to this problem, my administration convened a blue ribbon panel, with 
representatives from all these groups, to find ways to make it easier 
for parents to protect their children with safe, secure car seats.
    Today I am pleased that we are acting on the panel's number one 
proposal, a universal system for attaching car safety seats. Under a 
Transportation Department plan, every car safety seat would have two 
standard buckles at its base. Every car would be equipped with standard 
latches in the back seat designed specifically to fasten to these 
buckles. There would also be universal attachments to secure the top of 
the safety seat to the car's interior, so car seats would be locked in 
from top to bottom. This plan will go out for public comment next week. 
If approved, the new safety system could be on the market by 1999.
    A car seat can protect a child from the violence of the worst 
crashes. So today we are acting to solve a problem that's been around 
for too long. We're taking steps to make sure that your child's car seat 
will stay put in your car every time. With this plan, we're moving 
closer to the day when safe, well-attached car seats will be the rule of 
the road.
    Together, these efforts represent a new spirit of cooperation in 
America, with industry and Government working with the American people 
to support our families as they seek to make life safer and better for 
our children.
    Thanks for listening.

Note: The address was recorded at 2:09 p.m. on February 14 in the Oval 
Office at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on February 15.