Dozens of second-graders at Waiakea Elementary filed into the school cafeteria early Tuesday to learn about keiki car safety.
“Boosters keep belts on bones!” was the mantra of the morning, as an interactive presentation educated the students about the risks of being unrestrained or improperly restrained in vehicles, discussed why they should use seat belts or booster seats when traveling, and what to look for when it comes to seat belt fit.
The state Department of Transportation, along with its safety partners, is launching the “Protecting Keiki in the Car” on the Big Island.
Kendra Jitchaku, a nurse at Hilo Medical Center, is in her fifth year of doing “Buckle Up Keiki,” an HMC program that teaches car seat and booster seat safety in East Hawaii schools and is expanding into West Hawaii.
This year, Joe Colella, director of child passenger safety for Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association, who has done a similar program in New Jersey, “brought his curriculum to the islands, so hopefully we’re going to use his curriculum and then bring it hopefully island wide and then in the future statewide is our plan,” she said.
Jitchaku said Colella’s curriculum was adapted for the previous Hawaii Island program, but this year they will begin using the program he created.
Colella said they’re trying to make sure the lesson is standardized and taught the same way in all the schools, regardless of who’s teaching.
“If we can get the children to not only understand the concepts but be able to articulate them, that puts it in place in their mind where they’re thinking about it … ” he said.
Colella said he was hired as a contractor to develop a program like this in New Jersey, where it has been refined since 2009, “and it’s still being used there. And now we’ve adapted it a little bit further to make it a little bit more culturally appropriate for use on the islands.”
Jitchaku said addressing students directly empowers them to talk with their parents.
“And the parents are more likely to listen, I feel like, if the child is saying ‘I want to be safe in the car.’ A lot of times, the parents make that decision and if we empower them to tell their parents, I feel like it’s more impactful.”
Colella said a past study found that starting at age 4, “kids have increasing influence over how they ride in the car,” and by 8, they have almost complete control over how they ride.
“So by interacting with kids … we’re reaching all the decision makers. We’re reaching the parents and caregivers through the kids and we’re reaching the kids directly.”
Jitchaku said the ultimate goal is to make sure kids ride safer — that they’re buckled up and fitting right in the vehicle.
It’s “filling in where the law can’t fill in,” Colella said. While state law says keiki have to ride in booster seats until the age of 8, research shows kids aren’t quite ready for seat belts alone until they’re somewhere between ages 10 and 12, he explained.
“So by educating kids, doing their own fit testing, they’re most likely to be protected by a seat belt.”