ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, November 28, 1996 TAG: 9611290116
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A7 EDITION: HOLIDAY
DATELINE: BOISE, IDAHO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
A parking lot fender-bender that decapitated a 1-year-old girl prompted a federal investigation and drew even more attention Wednesday to the potential dangers of air bags.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration dispatched a team from Los Angeles to investigate Tuesday night's accident.
Police said 1-year-old Alexandra Greer was in a forward-facing child safety seat when her mother, Rebecca Blackman, 21, rear-ended a car that had just entered a mall parking lot.
The impact deployed the Volkswagen Jetta's passenger-side air bag, which deployed at 200 mph, decapitating the child and throwing her head through the broken door window onto the parking lot.
``It otherwise would have been a minor traffic accident,'' police Lt. Tim Rosenvall told The Idaho Statesman.
Pre-Thanksgiving shoppers shivered against the 28-degree weather as police tried to console the toddler's hysterical mother.
``If it weren't for the air bag, no one would have been hurt,'' Marianne Keebey, a family friend, told the paper.
Air bags were previously blamed for the deaths of 31 children and 20 adults - mostly smaller women - in low-speed crashes they otherwise could have survived.
As a result, the NHTSA is requiring strongly worded warning labels about air bags in new cars and is considering other changes, such as bags that deploy less forcefully.
Safety officials converged on the nation's highway rest stops Wednesday to warn drivers about the dangers of air bags and the need to buckle up children under 12 in the back seat.
The campaign urging motorists to keep young children safely away from the bags' explosive force was being coordinated by the National Safety Council.
``It blows me away that people drive all the time with kids in the front seat or not in car seats at all,'' said Paul Mitchell of Portland, Ore., who picked up a pamphlet at a Boise rest stop, where he arrived with his daughters, ages 2 and 4, strapped in the rear.
A coalition of auto and insurance companies, safety equipment manufacturers and government agencies has organized the campaign, which includes passing out millions of leaflets at rest areas along the busiest highways in all 50 states during the heavily traveled Thanksgiving holiday.
The automakers and insurance companies are providing most of the financing; police officers, safety advocates and volunteers are handing out the material.
``I keep trying to figure out when it's not safe,'' said Beth Thompson, who thankfully took a leaflet near Boston. She was traveling with her three children in a new car with dual air bags. After reading the flier, she made a decision about her youngest, a 4-year-old girl who sometimes rides next to her in a child seat.
``She's not going to ride in the front any more,'' Thompson said.
An estimated 31.8 million people - more than 12 percent of the population - were expected to travel 100 miles or more for Thanksgiving, the American Automobile Association said. That's a 3 percent increase over last year and the largest number of travelers since the AAA survey began in 1985.
Eighty-three percent of those travelers were hitting the highways, the AAA said. But travelers were taking to the skies in record numbers as well - up 16 percent over last year's record Thanksgiving week travel volume, said the Air Transport Association, an airline industry group.
Train and bus stations also were crowded Wednesday. And Sunday was expected to be even busier.
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines KEYWORDS: FATALITYby CNB