The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has done a favor to car buyers in requiring that its crash test data be included on window stickers. Inclusion of the data will be mandatory by next September.

While crash test data currently are found on the government's Web site — www.safercar.gov — it will be an added convenience to have the information immediately at hand at auto showrooms and lots.

The new NHTSA rule covers new passenger cars, sport utility vehicles and vans, but not pickup trucks. The rule should be extended to include such trucks.

NHTSA conducts vehicle crash tests and rates them on a scale of one to five stars, five stars being the highest score. The crash tests help buyers evaluate a vehicle's ability to withstand a crash and its likelihood of rolling over.

While at times there might be disagreement regarding test findings, the new sticker data will be a helpful resource for buyers nonetheless. And, that easily accessible data for all eyes to see will provide added incentive for automakers to build safer vehicles.

While some people might not be overly concerned about vehicles' safety ratings when they're out car shopping, many people are. The shoppers who do care about the government's safety ratings have the right to have such important information at their fingertips, rather than having to detour to a computer as they consider the various models of vehicles in their price range.

The new NHTSA rule is an important step forward, but the rule should have been in place long before now.

Members of the women's quilting and Bible study group of St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church in Connoquenessing don't seek praise for a project that has helped people in Third World countries in Africa as well as people in this country. But their work is deserving of notice both in their community and beyond for the love of mankind that it represents.The women, who make up a chapter of the Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (WELCA), gather every other week to make patchwork comforts that are delivered to the Lutheran World Relief distribution center in New Windsor, Md. From New Windsor, the comforts go to people in need not only in faraway places but where they are needed domestically.Some were distributed to Hurricane Katrina victims in the devastated Gulf Coast region.In all, the small group of St. John's Evangelical members involved in the effort — the group has consisted of as many as 15 members during its 10 years of existence but currently about five are in attendance at each session — has made more than 200 comforts.The latest batch of comforts will be blessed during services this weekend before being delivered to Maryland on Monday.The local WELCA women have reason to be proud of their accomplishments even though receiving praise for their work is not part of their mission.

The American Red Cross must ensure that its latest problem with the federal Food and Drug Administration is its last.On Sept. 8, the FDA ordered the Red Cross to pay a record fine of $4.2 million for violating blood-safety laws. The fine stems from Red Cross recalls involving about 12,000 units of blood and blood products carried out between 2003 and 2005 that the FDA contends could have been prevented.That's on top of the $5.7 million that the Red Cross was assessed in 2003 as part of a court settlement with the FDA.The fine levied this month is for violations that include failing to reject donors who had traveled to malarial areas and allowing blood and related products to be distributed without proper testing.Although the FDA stressed that it had no evidence of serious health problems resulting from the violations and said the nation's blood supply remains safe, the problems are very troubling, considering that the Red Cross provides nearly half of the nation's blood supply.A Red Cross announcement that it would use money it makes selling blood, rather than donated money, to pay the fine is the proper course of action. But the situation doesn't enhance the Red Cross' image, which should not be tarnished by such occurrences.The Red Cross is too important of an agency to be bogged down by such problems.