Law enforcement focuses on belting children

Iowa law officers are taking part in National Child Passenger Safety Week beginning today (Monday). Law enforcement agencies are using federal funds to focus attention on getting parents to make sure their kids are properly buckled up. Rommell Cooks of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration was in Iowa last week in preparation for the event.She says motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for children ages two to 14. Cooks says parents have to take the lead in making sure their children are safe.She says children when they’re between the ages of four and eight, think that they’ve gotten to where they can sit in the front seat. But she says children should be in the back seat until they’re age 12. Cooks says her agency is using ads on radio and TV this week to highlight the proper use of seatbelts for kids. She says put the children in the back seat. If they’re less than four-foot-nine, put them in a booster seat. She says if they’re less than 80 pounds, put them in a booster seats. She says a child in a car unrestrained is in “grave danger.” State officials say six children under the age of six were killed in car crashes in 2002.