Third Annual Child Safety Awareness Day Observed At Honda Dealerships Nationwide

Honda and Little League Baseball are teaming up to teach families how to stay safe during the third annual Child Safety Awareness Day on Saturday, May 20 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., at participating Honda dealerships. Each year, more than 1 million children are injured or killed in preventable household, traffic and recreational accidents. Traffic accidents alone account for more than 700,000 of these injuries or deaths. In conjunction with its ongoing sponsorship of Little League Baseball, American Honda and nearly 500 of its dealers nationwide will work to reduce these numbers through education.

Child Safety Awareness Day allows Honda to reach local communities and provide families with valuable information and instruction on a range of topics, including vehicle and traffic safety, prevention of common household and sports-related injuries, and safe usage of the Internet. Additionally, Families will receive "photo passports" of their children, courtesy of Polaroid's Project KidCare. The passports provide parents with current information, physical description and photo identification of their children -- information that is imperative to the search and recovery of missing children.

"The Honda dealer network offers us a unique opportunity to reach into local communities to provide important child safety information directly to families," said Dick Colliver, executive vice president of American Honda Motor Co., Inc. "If we can help one child through our efforts, Child Safety Awareness Day will be a success."

At many Honda dealerships, parents will be instructed on the proper installation of child safety seats, while kids enjoy amateur demonstrations by the International Inline Skating Association. Several locations will also feature educational displays and safety instruction from community-based organizations, like local police and fire departments.

Dealerships will showcase Safety First, an instructional video produced by Little League Baseball. The video features former Major League Baseball stars Steve Garvey and Steve Lyons and teaches the basics of the game, pointers on getting to the game safely and tips on avoiding injuries. Little League players will assist at various Child Safety Awareness Day events by passing out safety literature and helping with logistics. Local leagues also are invited to set-up fundraisers, or distribute "Honda Home Run" sweepstakes tickets. The "Honda Home Run" is a sweepstakes and fundraiser developed for Little League Baseball. Honda will invite 7000 leagues to participate; each league can raise as much as $10,000 in donations. Four sweepstakes semifinalists will be chosen to receive all-expense paid trips for four to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Penn. During pre-game ceremonies the four finalists will receive a key, one of which will start the grand prize -- an all-new 2000 Honda Odyssey minivan. To thank Little Leaguers for their assistance at Child Safety Awareness Day events, the first 25 players on-site to help will receive Honda's 2000 commemorative trading pin, which is a popular collector's item. Honda developed the dealership-based Child Safety Awareness Day in cooperation with Little League Baseball, Polaroid's Project KidCare, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

To locate a Child Safety Awareness Day event in their local area, consumers can call the toll-free hotline at 800-33HONDA, extension 808 or access the online directory at http://www.childsafetyday.com.