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Child safety in cars is critical. Mandatory seat restraint laws, when enforced, significantly increase child restraint use and reduce motor vehicle accident injuries and fatalities.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Safety
- Public Health
- Transportation Safety
Background:
- Motor vehicle accidents are a primary cause of death and severe injury for children over one year old in the U.S.
- Tens of thousands of young children require emergency room treatment annually due to motor vehicle trauma.
- A significant majority of children travel in vehicles without appropriate safety restraints.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the effectiveness of mandatory seat restraint laws in increasing child passenger safety.
- To highlight the potential of legislation in mitigating child motor vehicle injuries and fatalities.
Main Methods:
- Review of existing studies on child restraint effectiveness.
- Analysis of restraint usage rates before and after the implementation of a mandatory seat restraint law in Tennessee.
- Examination of the impact of enforced seat belt laws in other countries.
Main Results:
- Restrained children experience significantly milder injuries or no injuries.
- Seat belts and restraints have the potential to reduce injuries by up to 70% and deaths by up to 90%.
- In Tennessee, mandatory seat restraint law, coupled with education, increased usage from 9% to 18.7%.
Conclusions:
- Educational efforts alone have had limited success in increasing child restraint use.
- Legislation, particularly when enforced, shows promise in improving child passenger safety.
- Pediatricians and public health professionals should advocate for the passage of mandatory seat restraint laws.
Abstract:
Motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death and injury to children over one year of age in the United States. About 800 motor vehicle occupants less than four years old are killed each year and tens of thousands are injured severely enough to require emergency room treatment. Studies have demonstrated that the vast majority of children ride unprotected in motor vehicles. Restrained children are likely to have milder injuries or no injuries at all. One study intimates that seat belts or restraints could reduce injuries up to 70 per cent and deaths up to 90 per cent. Various educational efforts have been attempted to increase restraint and belt use. Most have not worked. Seat belts laws in other countries have been effective in increasing belt use by adults when the laws are enforced. In Tennessee, where a mandatory seat restraint law has been part of a large-scale educational effort, restraint use has increased from an average of 9 per cent prior to the law, to an average of 18.7 per cent in the fall of 1979. Because the problem of motor vehicle-related deaths and injuries is widespread and because legislation holds some promise for amelioration of this problem, pediatricians and public health professionals should work toward the passage of such laws.