Illinois to benefit from Toyota contribution to Buckle Up For Life
Toyota car company as committed $1,000,000 to assist the groth of Buckle Up For Life which originated in Ohio, Kentucky and California. The program will no extend to Illinois Colorado and Texas by 2012.
The program was born by the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center to help Hispanic and African American families injured or killed in car accidents.
Dr. Rebeccah L. Brown, associate director of trauma services and the director of the program said that the program was created because of the disproportionate number of African American and Hispanic children being treated the medical center with severe accident related injuries. "This disparity was unacceptable and we knew we had to do something about it."
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention statistics show that car accidents top the leading causes of death in Hispanic and African-American Communities, partly because of the lack of use of seatbelts and the inproper use of car seats for infants and toddlers.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration makes the following observations:
1. Hispanic children are 3x's more likely to be killed in a car accident than caucasian children.
2. Car accidents are the leading cause of death for African Americans under the age of 14 and the second leading cause of death between the ages of 15-34.
3. The main cause of accidental injury-related deaths for African-Americans of all ages is due to the no use of seat belts. The leading cause of death for Hispanics ages 1 to 44 is motor vehicle crashes.
