March 4, 2015, (Westfield, IN) – Westfield, Indiana, home of Grand Park, and recently voted nationally as one of the Top 50 “Best Places to Live” by Money Magazine, as well as one of the “10 Best Towns for Families” by Family Circle, is again leading the way in Hamilton County.

On Friday, March 6th at 10:00am, Westfield Mayor Andy Cook, along with Westfield-Washington school officials and city leaders, will announce a ground-breaking program to provide better safety for students traveling out of town on their school buses.

“The most valuable asset in the Westfield community is our children,” Mayor Cook said. “We are proud to partner with IMMI to help keep our kids safe.”

“Today we use our school buses for more than traveling short distances to and from school. We use them to take our athletic teams, performing arts groups, and students on field trips where we are traveling on interstates for long amount periods of time,” said Nick Verhoff, Westfield-Washington schools.

“School buses are the only vehicles traveling down our highways at 65mph that don’t offer the protection of seat belts for our kids. We can do better, and in Westfield, we will,” said Tom Anthony, president and owner of Westfield-based IMMI, which is the leading provider of seat belts for school buses. “We’re thrilled to partner with the city and the school district. Their commitment to take the next step to better protect kids on school buses is just one more reason why Westfield is one of the best cities to live for families.”

Friday’s announcement will be held at the Center for Advanced Product Evaluation (CAPE), on IMMI’s campus at 18881 IMMI Way in Westfield. CAPE has safety tested more school buses and school bus seats than every test facility in the world combined. Just last month, ABC News featured IMMI and CAPE on Good Morning America, World News Tonight, and Nightline for their work on seat belts on school buses. As a result of those stories, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is re-evaluating whether seat belts on school buses should be mandated. More than 600 school buses have been involved in rollover accidents in the past 5 years, and annually, 17,000 students are injured in school bus accidents.

Indiana legislators are currently considering a bill that would mandate seat belts on all new school buses.

For more information contact:
Erin Murphy, City of Westfield 317.804.3013
Julie Cooley, IMMI 317.867.8363