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(The following article is reproduced, with permission, from the web site of the Advocates for Highway and
Auto Safety at http://www.saferoads.org/.)
Fact Sheet
In 1997, nearly 42,000 people were killed in traffic crashes and almost 3.4 million more
were injured, at a cost of over $150 billion. Among those killed were 2,656 children
age 0-14 years, 1,791 of whom were vehicle occupants. (The others who died were
pedestrians or pedalcyclists.) According to the National Center for Health Statistics,
vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for children of every age from 5 to 16
years.
When children are properly restrained in a child safety seat, booster seat or safety belt,
as appropriate for their age, their chance of being killed or seriously injured when in a
car crash is greatly reduced. Strong safety belt and child occupant restraint laws--with
no "gaps" that leave some children uncovered--are the most effective way to increase
child passenger restraint use and reduce traffic deaths and injuries to children. A
number of states are moving to close the loopholes in their occupant restraint laws so
that children of all ages are protected.
Child Passenger Safety Facts
- On average each day, seven children age 14 and under are killed, and
908 more are injured, in traffic crashes. (National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration, or NHTSA)
- Six out of ten children who died in traffic crashes in 1997 were
unrestrained. (NHTSA)
- Child safety seats reduce the risk of fatal injury by 69 percent for infants
under one year and by 47 percent for toddlers age 1-4. (NHTSA)
- From 1975 through 1997, an estimated 3,894 children's lives were saved
by safety belts and child restraint systems. (NHTSA)
- Children who ride in the back seat suffer a third fewer fatalities than those
in the front seat. (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety)
- Rear-facing child safety seats should NEVER be placed in the front seat
of a vehicle with a passenger-side air bag. The best way to protect
children age 12 and under from risks posed by air bags is to place them in
the back seat, properly restrained by the appropriate child safety seat or
safety belt.
- Adult safety belt use is the best predictor of child occupant restraint use.
A driver who is buckled up is three times more likely to restrain a child
passenger than one who is not buckled. (Journal Pediatrics, Vol.
102, No. 3, September 1998)
Child Restraint Law Facts
- All states and the District of Columbia have child safety seat laws with
standard enforcement, allowing law enforcement officers to issue a
citation when they see a violation of that law. However, many states have
gaps in their child passenger restraint laws that leave children of some
ages or in certain seating positions uncovered by either a child safety
seat law or a safety belt law.
- Only 22 states and the District of Columbia have no gaps in their child
occupant protection laws, requiring all children through age 16 to be
restrained in every seating position. (Insurance Institute for Highway
Safety)
- If states closed all remaining gaps in their child occupant protection laws,
and all children (age 0-15) were properly restrained 100 percent of the
time, as many as 630 additional children's lives would be saved and
another 182,000 serious injuries prevented. (NHTSA)
- Strong safety belt laws protect children too. When Louisiana upgraded
its safety belt law from secondary to standard enforcement, child restraint
use jumped from 45 to 82 percent even though there was no change in
the state's child passenger safety law. (NHTSA)
