Assignment 1

Type 1 writing

(WBZ) BOSTON Car accidents are the number one cause of death for young children. The law already requires us to use car seats for babies and toddlers, but some lawmakers are focusing on the next phase, older kids in booster seats.At six-years-old, Ben Martin does not have to use a child safety seat by law.But his parents already make their sons do what safety advocates want all Massachusetts children to do, use a seat.Not only when they're babies, but all the way through the early grade school years. "Safety belts are made for adults," said AAA spokesman Art Kinsman. "On me, the belt fits properly. It cuts across my chest, my lap, my pelvis, where it's supposed to."But on children, experts say a seatbelt alone hits the wrong spots, increasing the chance of fatal injury."It can press with the force of the accident, against the liver, the spleen, intestines, and cause internal injuries," said Dr. Paul Schreiber.Current state law has children in car seats until they're either five-years-old or 40 pounds. The new proposed law would require a booster seat until the 8th birthday or when the child stands four-foot-nine in height. That is in line with the recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics, which suggests children remain in booster seats until they are 4' 9" tall.Even though it's already on the books in most states, Massachusetts has resisted."My son would fight it. I'm a single mom. It's tough," said one unidentified parent."They like that sense of growing up, being big," said another.The bill's backers say if it's the law, it may not be such a struggle and some kids may just surprise you.If the law passes, parents caught with a child noout a seat face a $25 fine.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

My thoughts on this article were that its good that people are trying to help people become more safe and prevent deaths in the US. People really do need to be more aware of there childrens saftey because parents are responsible for there children and if they dont do it then who will. Also, maybe through this article people can see that there needs to be more emphasis on booster saftey and keeping the childrens death rate down.

Second Part-

Nine Risks: occupants in back seat, stuck accelerator, body has little crash protection, attend keg party, dozing off, no communication, downgrade, weave pattern at exit/entrance, traffic slow down.

With these nine risk factors definetly a crash could happen. Especially since the driver is drowsy and attended a keg party with pasengers in the back seat. If you took out the attend keg party and stuck accelerator then the crash might have been minimized by some. With some of these risks the accident could have happend whether or not you had most of the risks becasue the persons car had a stuck accelerator and that is hard to fix right on the spot.