Child passenger fatalities and restraint use in Auckland

To determine the proportion of children killed as passengers in car crashes who were unrestrained and to estimate the reduction in mortality that might result from increasing child restraint utilisation.

All children killed as passengers in car crashes, over the period 1980-90, were identified from the Auckland coroners records. Data were recorded on sex, age, use and type of restraint, position within the motor vehicle, pattern of injuries and place of death.

There were 49 children (25 male, 24 female) killed as passengers in car crashes over the study period (2.14/100,000/year). The median age was eight years (range 0-14 years). Of the 38 children for whom restraint use could be determined, 31 (81.6%) were unrestrained and seven (18.4%) were restrained. None of the children aged 0-2 years were restrained. Thirty-five children (71.4%) died at the scene of the crash, three (6.2%) died during transport to hospital, and 11 (22.4%) died in hospital.

Based on overseas reports of the efficacy of child restraints, close to half (49%) of all child passenger deaths in Auckland could have been prevented with appropriate child restraint use.