Preventing Motor Vehicle Injuries | |
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Child Passenger Safety Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among children in the United States. In the United States during 2002, 1,543 children age 14 years or younger died as occupants in motor vehicle crashes and about 227,000 were injured. That’s an average of 4 deaths and 622 injuries each day (NHTSA 2003a). Of the children age 4 years and younger who were fatally injured in 2002, 50% were unrestrained (NHTSA 2003a). Most of these injuries could have been prevented. Placing children in age-appropriate restraint systems reduces serious or fatal injuries by more than half (NHTSA 2003b). However, restraint use among young children often depends upon the driver's restraint use. Almost 40% of children riding with unbelted drivers are also unrestrained (Cody et al. 2002). In addition, many children who ride in child safety seats are improperly secured. A survey of more than 17,500 children found that only 15% of children in safety seats were correctly harnessed into correctly installed seats (Taft, Mickalide, and Taft 1999). Children ages 12 years and younger also should ride in the back seat, the safest place in a vehicle in the event of a crash. This is especially important for vehicles with front passenger side airbags. Riding in the back seat is associated with at least a 30% reduction in the risk of injury in cars without front passenger side airbags (Braver, Whitfield, and Ferguson 1998). An important risk factor for injuries to child passengers is drinking and driving: one in four crash-related deaths among child passengers 0 to 14 years involves alcohol (NHTSA 2003a).Among child passengers 14 years and younger who were killed in drinking driver-related crashes from 1997 through 2002,68% were riding in the vehicle with the drinking driver (Shults 2004). Programs A boost for children ages 4 to 8 —
Research Research identifies effective
interventions to increase child restraint use —
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Prevention
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