PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION
Nationally, child passenger safety has become a rapidly evolving focus of traffic safety, with the number of certified child passenger safety (CPS) technicians increasing to more than 15,000 in the last three years. In order to remain current and provide the best possible service, CPS technicians must be continuously educated on an ever-expanding body of knowledge. Financial considerations often limit travel by technicians to other areas of the country for professional updates, particularly to the annual National Child Passenger Safety Technician Conference.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
To educate and update CPS technicians, educators, and instructors on the latest issues in child passenger safety, highway safety professionals from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut collaborated to develop the Tri-State Child Passenger Safety Technical Conference. Specific objectives of the program are to:

• Assure financial accessibility to CPS technicians in Connecticut, New Jersey and New York
• Offer up-to-date information on a wide variety of technical and programmatic topics
• Provide an environment for networking and exchanging ideas

STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES
With direction from the New York State Governor's Traffic Safety Committee (GTSC), a committee was established to plan the first annual Tri-State Child Passenger Safety Technical Conference. The planning committee was co-chaired by the GTSC's Child Passenger Safety Coordinator, and a representative from the New York State Department of Health, Bureau of Injury Control. Committee members were recruited from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, and included professionals in highway safety, enforcement, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and SAFEKIDS Coalitions.

CPS Technicians from the three states were then polled to determine their educational priorities. To ensure that the conference was available to as many technicians as possible, a centrally located site was chosen, a low registration fee was set, and financial scholarships were made available to technicians unable to obtain funding. Donations from sponsors and exhibitors were solicited, to help offset costs and to provide prizes for a raffle drawing held on the last day of the conference.

The planning committee contacted experts from all areas of child passenger safety, requesting their participation in the conference. Nineteen different workshops were developed for presentation during the two-day conference, with topics including, assisting diverse populations, liability issues, special needs, collaboration with the medical community and re-certification. Each workshop incorporated both hands-on activities and classroom presentations.

The first annual Tri-State Child Passenger Safety Technical Conference was presented in March 2001. The opening session included a keynote address by the Lieutenant Governor of New York and welcoming remarks from two of NHTSA's Regional Administrators, the governor's representative from each of the three states, and the Director of the Bureau of Injury Prevention, New York State Department of Health. The closing plenary was presented by a representative of the National SAFEKIDS Campaign.

RESULTS
A total of 400 participants attended the first annual Tri-State Child Passenger Safety Technical Conference. Although additional registration requests were received, space limitations at the hotel facility required that registration not exceed 400. The conference was supported by 22 sponsors and exhibitors.

In addition to attending the workshops and presentations, conference participants were able to network with others in the tri-state area to share information and ideas.

The conference also provided an ideal venue to assemble participants to create a Special Needs Task Force.