NEW YORK (Nov. 13, 2013) – Cohen Children’s Medical Center announced it has partnered with Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and Toyota to bring the Buckle Up for Life program, a national, community-based injury prevention program, to New York.
 
Building on a partnership that began in 2004 between one of the world’s leading children’s hospitals – Cincinnati Children’s – and the global automotive manufacturer – Toyota, the Buckle Up for Life program is designed to help save lives by educating communities about the number one cause of death of children under the age of 12 in the United States–motor vehicle crashes.
 
Car crashes are the number one killer of children in the United States between the ages 1 and 12.^[i] Only 1 out of every 4 child car seats are properly installed.^[ii] Furthermore, due to multiple factors, Hispanic and African American children are 10 times less likely to be properly restrained in a vehicle^[iii].
 
“We are excited to be a partner of the Buckle Up for Life program,” said Debora Riccardi, Director of Community Outreach at Cohen Children’s Medical Center. “The number of children dying unnecessarily in motor vehicle-related crashes remains high and we aim to raise awareness of the importance of being properly secured in motor vehicles, preventing injury and helping to save lives. Buckle Up for Life is a monumental initiative and we are so proud to be part of this national movement.”
 
Multi-year, Multi-million Dollars Funds Buckle Up for Life Expansion 

As part of Toyota’s ongoing commitment to provide safety programs to passengers and drivers of all ages, the company announced in September that it increased funding of Buckle Up for Life by six million dollars over the next three years, allowing the program to expand from the current eight cities to a total of 17 cities by 2016. This investment is added to the more than two and a half million dollars of support Toyota has provided over the past nine years.  To-date Buckle Up for Life has had tremendous results, including providing more than 40,000 child car seats to families in need.  In one city alone, the use of proper child car seats by program participants nearly tripled.
 
In additional to partnering with Cohen Children’s Medical Center, this year Buckle Up for Life has also partnered with Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital (Memphis, TN) and Phoenix Children’s Hospital (Phoenix, AZ). They join successful programs already in place with local hospital partners in Chicago, Cincinnati, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Orange Country, CA, and San Antonio.
 
“At Toyota, we are strongly committed to the belief that driver and passenger safety is a universal need and something everyone should have access to,” said Latondra Newton, Chief Corporate Social Responsibility Officer of Toyota Motor North America Inc. “That is why we partnered with Cincinnati Children’s to create Buckle Up for Life and now expand to even more cities.  We consider today to be both a celebration of all we have achieved and a call to action for the tremendous amount of work still to be done.”
 
Buckle Up for Life Pledge
 
The Buckle Up for Life pledge is a national call to action inviting the public to take a pledge to Buckle Up for Life and share the safety with loved ones. Visit the Buckle Up for Life website, www.BuckleUpforLife.org or join the more than 170 million members of the Causes community at www.causes.com/Toyota to take the pledge. 
 
"With North Shore-LIJ, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and Toyota partnering together, we are finding a solution to the problem of poor car seat safety to better protect our children,” said Congressman Steve Israel, Representative for the 3rd District of New York. “I'm proud to join with Cohen Children's Medical Center, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and Toyota as they introduce Buckle Up for Life right here in New York. This innovative partnership will help save lives by educating our communities about the importance of wearing a safety belt and proper car seat installation."