research >> Child Passenger and child pedestrian Safety

Child Restraint Systems

Added July 2009: The association between booster seat use and death risk among motor vehicle occupants ages 4-8: a matched cohort study

A matched cohort study using data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System showed that seat belts, used with or without booster seats, are highly effective in preventing death among motor vehicle occupants ages 4-8. Booster seats do not appear to improve the performance of seat belts with respect to preventing death, but because several studies have found that booster seats reduce the severity of non-fatal injuries, clinicians and injury prevention specialists should continue to recommend the use of boosters for young children.

"The Effectiveness of Child Restraint Systems for Children Aged 3 Years or Younger During Motor Vehicle Collisions: 1996 to 2005" by Thomas M. Rice and Craig L. Anderson-links to abstract. from American Journal of Public Health Highlights: for February 2009 edition.

"Child safety seats help to reduce the risk of death during severe traffic collisions and generally outperform seatbelts...

"Using the Fatality Analysis Reporting System data from 1996 to 2005, [TSC] researchers examined the effectiveness of child restraints in preventing death during motor vehicle collisions among children 3 years or younger. They found that child safety seat use among children aged 3 or younger greatly reduces the risk of death during traffic collisions. Unrestrained children were three times more likely to die during collisions than were children using a child safety seat. Furthermore, they found that safety seat effectiveness is greater for younger children: death risk reduction is 74 percent for children one year and younger and 59 percent for children aged two and three years.

"'Clinicians and public health practitioners should continue to encourage parents to use child safety seats in favor of seat belts and should provide information on the proper selection and use of safety seats,'" said the study’s authors."—from the AJPH press release.

SafeTREC Resources

Evaluation of the California Child Passenger Safety Initiative
Jill F. Cooper, Kara E. MacLeod, David R. Ragland. TSC Research Report. (2004)

Keeping Children Safe in Cars
Jill F. Cooper. ACCESS magazine, Number 24, Spring 2004.

"Evaluation of the California Child Passenger Safety Initiative."
David R. Ragland, Jill F. Cooper, Kara E. MacLeod. Presented at the Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting. January 2005. Requires PowerPoint™ to view.

"Child passenger safety evaluation: A public hospital-based research project" Jill F. Cooper, Kara E. MacLeod, David R. Ragland. (2003). Paper.

"Making Child Safety Seats Part of a Prescription for Good Health" TSC Online Newsletter. December 2002.

"The 'Forgotten Child' Is Getting Some Attention at Last: Booster seats now the law in some states." TSC Online Newsletter. December 2002.

California Child Restraint Law (PDF). Posted 2002.

Pre-Intervention Assessment: UC Davis Medical Center and California Health Care Safety Net Institute Child Passenger Safety Initiative
Jill F. Cooper, Kara E. MacLeod, David R. Ragland, TSC, Wendy Jameson, California Health Care Safety Net Institute. TSC Research Report. (2002)