Janette Fennell is the founder and president of
KidsAndCars.org, a national nonprofit organization that works to prevent injury and death to children in nontraffic events. Janette learned that being locked in a car trunk was a horrific ordeal; but her second ordeal was convincing the powerful auto industry and Federal government that trunk entrapment was a significant problem. Her four-year successful crusade to make car trunks escapable is an excellent case study in the power of survivors to change public policy. While working on the issue of trunk entrapment, she learned about many other dangers children are exposed to when left alone in or around a motor vehicle. As recent as February 2008 she was successful in getting the Cameron Gulbransen Kids Transportation Safety Act passed. This new law will require the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to set a rear visibility standard, improve power window safety, require that vehicles cannot be taken out of gear unless you have your foot on the brake, educate the public about nontraffic dangers and collect data about incidents that take place on private property. This is the first transportation bill that has been passed since 2005.
Janette has received numerous national awards such as a 2002 Public Service Award from NHTSA, an American Academy of Pediatrics injury prevention award, the 2007 National Community Champion award from the Civil Justice Foundation, the 2006 Outstanding Achievement in Childhood Safety Award from Safe Kids Kansas, the 2007 Advocate Extraordinaire award from Safe Kids Kansas City Metro as well as the 2004 Distinguished Alumni award from the University of Wisconsin.
Ms. Fennell is sought out as an expert in the nontraffic field and has appeared on programs such as Good Morning America, Dateline, Oprah, NPR, the TODAY Show, CNN, NBC Nightly News, etc.
Mission StatementKidsAndCars.org is a national nonprofit child safety organization dedicated to preventing injuries and death to children in or around motor vehicles. Based on evidence,
KidsAndCars.org knows these sudden tragic events are not only predictable, but preventable.
KidsAndCars.org has been pioneering a national prevention movement since 1999 by promoting the highest level of awareness among parents, caregivers, legislators and the public at-large about the dangers inherent to children when in or around motor vehicles.