Office education by pediatricians to increase seat belt use

We studied promoting seat belt use by school-aged children through discussions with their pediatricians. The study population consisted of 242 well children observed coming to and leaving from a private pediatric practice. Only four (5%) of 73 control patients who did not wear their seat belts coming in wore them going out. For intervention patients, this figure was 29 (38%) of 77. At one-year follow-up by questionnaire, there were no statistical differences between the percentage of seat belt use in control (67%) vs intervention (62%) patients. However, pediatricians' reported percentage of patients routinely counseled about seat belt use prior to the start of the study was highly correlated with patients' observed prestudy seat belt use. Pediatricians should include education about automobile safety as a part of all well-child visits.