Tucson Medical Center Receives Major Grant to Fund Child Passenger Safety Efforts

Tucson Medical Center (TMC) has received grant funding from the Arizona Governor’s Office of Highway Safety (GOHS) totaling $25,000. The funds will provide 400 car seats to enhance the safety of children throughout Southern Arizona. The seats will be distributed to low income families along with one-on-one education through car seat education classes. The next car seat giveaway will be happening in Spring 2022, but dates are not yet determined. Once dates have been determined, registration can be found at www.tmcaz.com/events/carseatgiveaway. 

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of injuries and death for children under the age of 19, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. 

• In 2020, 61 Arizona children died as a result of motor vehicle and other transportation crashes. 
• Car seats are often used incorrectly. Eight out of ten car and booster seats are misused in a way that could be expected to increase a child’s risk of injury during a crash. 
• Properly installed car seats reduce fatal injury by 71% for children who are in a rear facing car seat and by 54% for children who are in a forward facing car seat with a five-point harness. 

With the 2012 passage of Arizona’s Booster Seat Law, children are riding safer, but without proper education, children remain at risk. The law requires children who are younger than 8 years old and less than 4 feet 9 inches tall to sit in a properly used car seat or booster seat when riding in a vehicle. 

The grant funds will allow TMC to continue public education and awareness efforts aimed at increasing proper and consistent use of seatbelts and child safety seats with a goal of reducing the number of fatalities and injuries due to vehicular crashes throughout Arizona. As Southern Arizona’s community hospital, the leading provider for emergency and pediatric care and the lead agency for