Safety

Overview

Injury is the leading cause of death in children over the age of 1.  Action for Children seeks to reduce both intentional and unintentional childhood injuries while working to ensure that children are safe in their homes, schools and communities.

Did you know?  Since passage of the booster seat law in 2004, motor vehicle deaths of young children (ages 5-7) have declined by 60%.

• Safety at School: Action for Children works to ensure that school environments are healthy and safe.
• Safety from Unintended Injuries and Deaths: Action for Children works to reduce unintended child injury and death, particularly from gun violence and motor vehicle accidents.
• Safety in the Environment: Action for Children supports the work of many organizations striving to ensure healthy living environments for North Carolina’s children.
• Safety at Home: Action for Children’s work on domestic violence and child maltreatment helps to ensure children’s safety at home.
  

Action for Children supports the work of the Child Fatality Task Force.  Examples of Recent Safety Policy Successes Include:

• Reducing child fatalities and injuries by prohibiting children under age 16 from riding in the open beds of pick-up trucks;
  
• Reducing the incidence of child death or injury by carbon monoxide poisoning by requiring the installation of carbon monoxide detectors in certain rental properties;
  
• Reducing the incidence of children purchasing alcohol and tobacco products by requiring a vertical driver's license format for those under age 21;
  
• Reducing the risk of motor vehicle accidents by banning cell phone use among teenagers currently under the graduated driver's license provision;
• Requiring the use of seat belts by each occupant of a motor vehicle, through passage of the backseat safety belt law;
  
• Reducing All Terrain Vehicle (ATV)-related deaths and serious injuries of children by an expected 50%, through passage of the ATV safety bill;
• Reducing motor vehicle deaths of young children (ages 5 to 7) by an expected 60% with the passage of the booster seat law;
• Keeping children safe and less likely to suffer head injuries by promoting the requirement for helmets on bike riders under age 16; and
  
• Decreasing the number of new drivers killed by more than 20% since passage of the graduated driver's license law.
  

Signature Safety Publication

Driving Safety: Two New Vehicle Laws - December 2007 

Action for Children and State Farm Insurance have launched a safety awareness campaign to increase familiarity with two new vehicle laws passed by the 2006 N.C. General Assembly.  The campaign features an easy-to-understand fact sheet, highlighting two new laws: the backseat safety belt law and the teen driver cell phone ban.  200,000 fact sheets were distributed statewide to teenage drivers.

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