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WMIBY REPRESS, DURHAM MOVES ]MARCH 16,1988, PAGE A? Chl aft eats -are -misused says, -safet-y- council Automobile accidents continue to be *the leadlng.cause'of accidentai' death and inJury for children bet- ween the ages of one and four even though child safety seats have been required by law since 1982. . According to the Ministry of Transportation, 12 children under agefivewerekîlledinmotorvehicle crashes.,i Ontarioini 1986, wbile -more, than. 1,500 were injured -some-seriously.disabled for 111e beforetheycouldevenwalk. Yet fully 80 per cent of these chlldren could'have been spared if only they had been riding correctly restrainedin a child safety seat. In a continuing effort to counter the slarming misuse and non-use of çhild restraints, the Ontario Safety League is touring -shopping malsa until the end of April with a safety, seat display. Information on infant, toddler -aud booster seats wiil be available as *well as demonstration videos andlterature. Staffedby two' specially tralued ýpersons, the displaywiil visit selected shopping mails iu southeru Ontario spending. three days in each location. .Mlsuseoccurs ouly toofrequently. Some people, install the car seat in- correctly because they did not carefully follow themanïufacturer's instructions. Others place au infant seat foward fading rather than rear facing, or they fail to secure the, restraint with the vehicle's seat bet, or tbey neglect to fit the har- nesses snugly and properly. And there are stili parents who believe that their cblld is safer lu their own arms tbanin a ehilrestraint. «The OSL campaign la supported by the Ministry of Transportation, witb a courtesy vebicle providied by General Motors of Canada. The league is a. non-profit, non- governent organization dedicated to sfety tbrough education and to the prevention of accidentai deaths and injuries. STATISTICAL INFORMATION.... Inl the three-year period in- mediately following the introduc-. tion of child restraint legisiation i November 1982, t4e average annual number of deaths -for chldren under age five dropped to 1il rm 6-a 31 per cent dqcrease. "Fori the same peiiod, the average annual number of inuries dropped to 1,35 from- 1,6oo a 1,i5per cent d e reas e. * 0f the children under age five kiled between 1981 and 198, almost two-thirds were travelling. unrestrained, indicating significan- tly few ýrestrained children are, seriouslylnijured. >,* Approimately two per centýof under five-year-oldà wiIl be la volved in accidents this year. About one out of eight of these chidren will beinjiedor.klled. * Each year in ii anda about 7*0 children under age five die, and 4,000 - Îore are ,injured ,,,as passengers in -motor vehicle collisions. Discourage theft'by removing. keys By PETER BRAMMA Durham Regional Police A joke I like to tellinl the classroom is about the teenager wbo gos to his dad aud asks him if he can have $5,000 togo to the movies. The father asked bis son why on earth he would need ail that money just to go see afilm. His reply was that it was a drive-in movie, sud he didn't bavesa car! A much easier way for the lad to get hixuseif a car, if he didnt mind stealing one, would be to go down to bis local shopping plaza. In no time at al be would notice some driver leaving the keys iu a car or truck. He likely would be sstouished to see vehicles left ruuning by their owuers while they just "pop" into the store. It would take s tbief about five seconds at the most tohave that car rolfing dowu the bighway. Even the quickest conveuience store clerk wont get you served that fast!* Let's face it, this kiud of careiessness goes on ail the time. lIn, fsct, M4 motor vehicles wore stolen inÏ Durham Regiond nriu 98p. Wh do people readily present tbis kind of opportunity' to crimiuais. Ob- viously they are just not thinking about crime prevention or their respounsibiity to the community. Auto -- tbeft, as a serlous crime, does affecfthte -whole community. Mauy stolen vebicles are used iu other crimes sud are often involved iu serious accidents. Iu a report put out by oue of Canada's largest insurance com- panies, experts agreed that a stolen car is 200 times more likely to become iuvolved in a crash thau a car driven by its rightful owuer. In fact, forensic psychologists dlaim that s thief at the wheel of a stolen vehicle is a poteutial killer because of the "bhigh adveu*ture" aud the need to avoid detection, pursuit, sud eveutual apprehension. Wble iu this condition the tbief will take more driving risks than he uormally would, thus eudangeriug other road users sud pedestrians to anunuac- ceptable degree. There are some facts about auto thef t: -One auto is stolen every eight minutes lu Canada; -90 per cent of car theft arrests are people under 25 years of age;, ---.5 per cent of all stolen vehicles are used iu other crimes (probably the percentage is much higher as uot all crime is reported) ; -80 per cent of ail stolen vehicles wereleftunlocked; --60 per cent had the key lu the ignition!!! - Surveys have shown that auto thefts drop by as much as two-thirds after strict enforcement of key removal laws. As a driver-you can heip protect the public as well as your owu property by us ing the following crime prevention methods: * Lock 'it aud. pocket the key. -A large number of cars were, lef t unlocked, often with the keys in the ignition, Whetheryouleaveyour car for a moment, or for several hours, always lock it and take the keys with you. Neyer leave your vehicle with the engine running, this. is au open invitation to the joyrider. " * Be careful of your keys.'A good idea is to keep your car keys aud house keys on separate rings. neyer have an identification tag on your car key ring (except War Amps tag), thieves may use it to locate your car. Neyer bide au extra key under the hood or iuside your car, a "good" car thief knows ail the hiding pla ces. Keep spare keys at home or in your wallet. * Secure valuables sud parcels. Neyer leave unatteuded in your car, cheque books, credit cards, or other such articles. Lock valuables iu the truuk, out of sight. * Park in well lighted aud busy areas. This is important for both your persoual safety and protection of your car and its contents.* * Discourage the thief. Sgme thieves specialize lu lifting the door locking buttons with s coat banger or similar device. Consider pur- chasing smooth, no-flared locking buttons for your car doors. * Report suspicious cars and per- sons. Cail the police immediately if you suspect a theft has occurred or is about to take place. * Motorcycle owuers -Because of its size, an unsecured motorcyclé isrelatively easy to move or tran- sport. Even if parked for only a short time, always engage the fork lock, if equipped, and secure the motorcycle frame ta an immovable object such as a telephone post of parking meter. Neyer. leave valuables or parcels with your motorcycle. At your residence park' or store it in a locked garage i f possible. The ever iucreasing crime of auto theft leads to higher crime rates, larger insurauce premiums, property damage, injuries, and loss of life. Yet, if every driver would just take time to lock up their vehicle whenever they leave it unat- teuded this problem could be signlficautly reduced., Let's not en- courage crime, but preveut it! Durham College offers motorcycle course in April J>urham College is sponsoring s motorcycle skills course, to take place ou weekeuds at the college beginniug April 12,. It luvolves classroom time Fridàys from 7 to 10 p.m. sud actual "ou bike" training Saturdsys snd Suudays froni 9:30 s.m. to 5:30 p.m. The 'course con- stitutes 17 hours lu total sud costs $175. As part'of the Canada Safety Counil's Gearing Up Progrsm, developed in co-peration- with the. federal goverumeut, the course is endorsed by ail levels of gover- meunt sud the InsuranceAdvisory Organization. Since its inception in 1974,, it bas gained worldwide recognition.- Course -content includes.,balan ding and breaking; cold, startiug, clutch operation sud coutrol syn- chronization, ýcorrect gear changing, signais sud shoulder checks, pattern riding, cornering, road.riding, emergeucy bresking, collision avoidauce, emergeucy techniques, sudsa motorcycle licen- ce road test. Person successfully completing the course will be eligible for the M lice nce, sud may benefit from reduced insurance premiums. To qualify,- applicauts must, have a valid "R" licence prior to beginning the course. The courses are held at the Sim- coe building at Durham College. Register at the registration office lu the main building at the college. For further information, caH the registrar's office at 576-0210, Ext. 2364,