ATVs (all-terrain vehicles, aka quads) and UTVs (utility-task vehicles, aka side-by-sides, recreational off-road vehicles, or ROVs) are used by families across the country for both recreation and work purposes, but can be extremely dangerous to children.

   During Safe Kids fifth annual Heatstroke Town Hall meeting on March 29, the organizers were happy to report that last year there were fewer vehicular heatstroke deaths than in any year since tracking began in 1998.  However, the 24 deaths were preventable, and it is very troubling that as early as mid-March 2016, two children had already succumbed to heat stroke—a very bad start to the year.[Update:  By press time, the number of 2016 deaths had risen to 5.]

NHTSA, for the first time, is keeping track of “not-in-traffic” injuries and deaths. In its first year of data, 2007, the system estimated that there were 262 child fatalities and approximately 115,000 injuries related to not-in-traffic incidents.

Over the past thirty years, the rate of obesity has doubled for children ages 2-5 and 12-15, and tripled for kids ages 6-11. Kim Hermann, Safe Kids USA, discussed how obesity presents challenges for child passengers.

In its January 2009 edition, SafetyBeltSafe News, published by SafetyBeltSafe U.S.A. (SBS USA), called attention to two recent tragic cases where children were strangled by their shoulder belts.