In November, Safe Kids Worldwide (SKW) adopted a prenatal vehicle safety (PVS) enrichment training as one of its official endorsement programs, joining the CPS on School Buses and Safe Travel for All Children curricula. After a CPST completes the free, 1.5-hour PVS training, SKW will add Prenatal Vehicle Safety Educator as an endorsement on their CPST profile page. Attendees also earn 1.5 CEUs toward recertification.
The training, offered live online, was developed by Greg Colton of the Hudson Center for Prenatal Vehicle Safety (HCPVS); currently, Colton is its only approved instructor.
Colton developed the course to address the reality that a fetus is currently 20 times more likely than an infant to die in a car crash, and this grim statistic will persist if pregnant drivers and passengers don’t learn to properly use their best defense against tragedy: a seat belt, together with an air bag. According to Colton’s growing set of data, only 12% of pregnant drivers wear a seat belt properly, so this training aims to prepare CPSTs—many of whom have regular contact with pregnant people at their vehicle—to help them by checking fit and providing education.
PVS educators also gain access to a Google Drive that has the PVS Technician Guide, a prenatal seat belt check form, and a set of sample scenarios to teach how to properly fill out the form.
Sign up for one of the upcoming training dates at https://hcpvs.org/webinar-registration. To learn more about the HCPVS, click here. Also, find an online version of an article about the program and its activities from SRN’s September/October 2023 issue here.