IU med school partners to provide free car seats

INDIANAPOLIS (Inside INdiana Business) — The Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis is teaming up with an auto insurance company in San Francisco to provide free car seats for families in need. The school is receiving a portion of $40,000 in funding from Go Insurance for the effort, which is part of the company’s recently-launched national child passenger safety program.

Go Insurance cites a report from nonprofit Go Safe Labs, which shows Indiana is the fourth least-safe state in the U.S. for children in passenger vehicles. The report says 383 children were injured or killed in traffic accidents in Indiana between 2015-2018.

“The Automotive Safety Program at the Indiana University School of Medicine works to keep families safe across the state of Indiana. With Go Insurance’s support, we will be able to get car seats to hundreds of families,” Marsha French, director of the IU School of Medicine Automotive Safety Program, said in a news release. “Our work is especially important now as the weather is worsening and families are preparing to travel by car this holiday season.”

The company says car seat distributions will take place into 2021, though a specific schedule was not provided. 

Go Insurance has also awarded funding to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and Cook Children’s Medical Center in Texas as part of the program.