NEWS RELEASE

September 14, 2012

For More Information:

Katie Fallon, GOHS Public Information Officer

404-463-0611(O) or 404-309-7591 (C)

Child Passenger Safety Caravan Rolling Into Bibb County

Multiple Events Planned To Keep Kids Safe in Cars

(MACON)The Governor’s Office of Highway Safetywill be joining several child passenger safety partners in Macon next week for a 2-day event to help educate Bibb County parents and caregivers about keepingyoung passengers safe while on the road.

In recognition of National Child Passenger Safety Week, the 2012 Traffic Injury Prevention Caravan will visit Bibb County on Sept. 18 and 19. The caravan is a cooperative effort among The Children’s Hospital at The Medical Center of Central Georgia (MCCG), Kohl’s Kids Safety Zone, Bibb County Schools, University of Georgia Traffic Injury Prevention Institute, Georgia Department of Public Health, Office of Injury Prevention, Bibb County Health Department, local law enforcement and the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety (GOHS).

“We are so excited to be joining our partners for such an important event,” said GOHS Director Harris Blackwood. “Our children are our most precious cargo and we need to make sure they’re safe and secure every time they get in a car. Adults won’t just get a ticket for not wearing their own seatbelts…they can also be cited if their young passengers are not properly buckled.”

Bibb County was chosen for this year’s caravan, in part, because of a local roadcheck earlier this year that resulted in 73 child safety seat citations in a 3-day enforcement period. Events included in this year’s caravan will include:

  • Rollover Simulator and Impaired Vision Demonstrations

-Howard High School, 6400 Forsyth Road, 8:30AM on Sept. 18

-Rutland High School, 6250 Skipper Road, 8:30AM on Sept. 19

  • Booster Seat and School Bus Safety Awareness

-Sonny Carter Elementary School, 5910 Zebulon Road, 9:30AM on Sept. 18

-Ingram-Pye Elementary School, 855 Anthony Road, 9:30AM on Sept. 19

  • City of Macon “National Child Safety Seat Day” Proclamation with Mayor Robert Reichert

-City Hall at 10AM on Sept. 19

  • Child Passenger Safety Seat Check (Open to the Public)

-WalMart, 5955 Zebulon Road, 1PM to 5PM on Sept. 19

“We have found, through child seat checks similar to the one that will be held Wednesday, that three out of four car seats are not installed correctly,” said Ashley Lord, Kohl’s Kids Safety Zone Coordinator for The Children’s Hospital. “It is the hope of all those individuals in the 2012 Traffic Injury Prevention Caravan that our community will continue to work together to ensure that our children remain safe and injury free.”

In July of 2011, Georgia established a new child passenger safety law requiring children under the age of eight to be properly secured in the back seat of a motor vehicle in a car seat or booster seat. For more information, call 404-656-6996 or visit

(END RELEASE)

Governor’s Office of Highway Safety Public Information Unit

Public Information Officer Katie Fallon, 404-463-0611,

7 Martin Luther King Jr Dr SE, Suite 643, Atlanta, GA 30334

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Nathan Deal, Governor Harris Blackwood, Director