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Millions of Children at Risk in Cars: Integrated Child Restraints Needed to Protect the  Forgotten Child

Children too big for car seats but too small for seat-belts are at risk of serious injury or death in car crashes. While infants and toddlers are safe in child seats, and older kids are protected by seat belts and air bags, those in the middle, ages four through eight, are caught in a safety gap. On April 23, 2002 Public Citizen released a study on the Forgotten Child to call attention to the failure of motor vehicle manufacturers to protect these children. Other safety advocates have joined Public Citizen in demanding that the government take action. Attendees at the press conference included Jamaal Walker, 12, who was rendered a ventilator-dependent quadriplegic in a 1996 crash; Walker’s mother, Palmella Rainford; Kathy Lakey, the jury foreman in the Walker case; and Autumn Skeen who has crusaded for child safety after her 4-year-old son Anton died in a rollover crash in 1996.

Click here to read Public Citizen's report The Forgotten Child
Click here  to read Public Citizen's 4-23-02 Press Release: The 'Forgotten Child' – Ages 4 to 8 – at Risk of Death, Serious Injury in Crashes Because of 'Safety Gap'
Click here to read the statement of Autumn Alexander Skeen whose 4-year-old son was killed in a rollover crash.
Click here to read the statement of Kathy Lakey. "When the trial ended, I felt I couldn't be silent."
Click here to read the statement of Palmella Rainford whose son was rendered quadriplegic in a 1996 crash.

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