
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 14, 1995                   TAG: 9503140110
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-8   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

TAKE NOTE

The Virginia Department of Health is urging motorists to give their children a seat of honor - in child safety seats. About half of parents use such seats, which, if used properly and regularly, reduce a child's risk of death or hospitalization by 65 percent if the child is in a motor vehicle accident.

During the past seven years, 88 children under the age of 4 were killed in motor vehicle crashes in Virginia. Seventy-two of them were not in child safety seats or were in seats that were not properly installed. Sixty-two of the children would not have died had they been in seats that were properly installed, authorities say.

Virginia law mandates that children who weigh less than 40 pounds sit in child safety seats while in motor vehicles.

Seats are available from several sources for low-income families. Those sources include, the Department of Motor Vehicles (800-553-1892), Midas Muffler shops, Allstate insurance, GEICO insurance, the Farm Bureau, and the Easter Seal Society of Virginia.

by CNB