Illinois Tollway to Host Kids Identification and Safety Seat Program in Bolingbrook

Editor's note: This article was submitted by the Illinois Tollway. 

In an effort to keep children safe, the Illinois Tollway and Illinois State Police District 15 will host free Kids Identification and Safety Seat (K.I.S.S.) events throughout Northern Illinois. Ten events have been scheduled throughout the summer to provide free kids’ identification cards and inspect and install child safety seats, including one in Bolingbrook on June 29.  

To make it quick, convenient and fun for parents, grandparents and children alike, K.I.S.S. events will be held at Illinois Tollway facilities and several family-friendly locations, including children’s museums, local IKEA stores and several Jewel-Osco locations. 

The Bolingbrook event will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Bolingbrook IKEA. 

“The safety of our customers is the Illinois Tollway’s number one priority, and we’re doing everything we can to help them prepare for summer travel,” said Illinois Tollway Executive Director Kristi Lafleur. 

“Together with District 15, we are hosting K.I.S.S. events all summer long to help keep children safe and give parents peace of mind when they're on the road."

In 2012, the Tollway and District 15 successfully teamed up to host 16 K.I.S.S. events throughout the region, inspecting a total of nearly 350 child safety seats and issuing identification cards for nearly 400 kids. The overwhelmingly popular response prompted the Tollway and District 15 to include additional family-oriented venues to educate the public on important child safety issues. 

2013 K.I.S.S. events will also offer parents and caregivers the opportunity to have identification cards created for children age 3 and older. Specially trained professionals will take kids’ photographs and fingerprints and gather vital information to include on three personal identification cards – one for home and two for a wallet or purse. This information will not be stored by police, but rather, used by parents and others in the event of an emergency.

More than 2,100 children – almost two children per minute – are reported missing every day in the United States. Law enforcement and others need proper identification that is immediately available before they can take action. Many lost children can be located if parents immediately provide police with an accurate description of the child.

K.I.S.S. events will also provide certified child passenger safety technicians to inspect and install child safety seats and help drivers stay up-to-date with the latest safety seat information and educational materials. Properly installed safety seats eliminate a potential distraction for drivers and significantly reduce the risk of injury or greater tragedy for children in the event of an accident. And yet, 80 percent of child safety seats in Illinois are improperly installed.

Nationally, car crashes are the number one killer of children ages 1 through 12, according to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA). Each day, an average of three children age 14 and younger are killed and another 469 are injured in motor vehicle crashes. In Illinois, 36 children age 14 and younger were killed in traffic accidents in 2011, the latest year for which statistics are available. 

Research on the effectiveness of child safety seats has found them to reduce fatal injury by 71 percent for infants younger than 1 year old and by 54 percent for toddlers 1 to 4 years old in passenger cars, according to the NHTSA. Over the period 1975 through 2011, an estimated 9,874 lives were saved by child restraints for children under the age of 5 in passenger vehicles.

“Child safety seats are critical to saving lives and preventing injuries,” said District 15 Captain Joseph Perez. “But, it’s important that the child safety seat is installed properly to reduce the chances of a child being injured in a car accident.”

K.I.S.S. events also offer a convenient way for drivers to make sure they comply with Illinois law, which requires that whenever a person is transporting a child under age 8, the person is responsible for properly securing the child in an appropriate child restraint system.