Motor vehicle crashes are the number-one killer of children ages 4 to 14 in the United States. All too often, the improper use or lack of proper child safety restraints is to blame. This is why UC Davis emergency room and trauma prevention specialists are joining forces with the California Office of Traffic Safety to increase awareness of the importance of securing children properly in booster seats until they are tall enough -- at least 4'9” -- to safely wear seat belts. OTS will announce a new $671,000 grant to UC Davis Children's Hospital for an education program focusing on booster seats. An emergency room physician will discuss the kinds of injuries he treats in children who are not using booster seats. Trauma prevention staff will demonstrate how to secure a child into a booster seat and why this is so important to the safety of child passengers.

The announcement and demonstration will take place in the courtyard of the Patient Services Support Building (across from the Emergency Room) of the UC Davis Medical Center, 2315 Stockton Blvd., Sacramento. Park in Parking Structure 1 and, when exiting, show media credentials to attendant for free parking.

In the case of rain, the announcement will take place in the Patient Services Support Building lobby.

• Christopher J. Murphy, director of the California Office of Traffic Safety
• Edward Panacek, emergency room physician at the UC Davis Medical Center
• Roxanne Woods, manager of Trauma Prevention and Injury Control for UC Davis Children's Hospital