Injuries to children in automobiles in relation to seating location and restraint use

✍ Scribed by Allan F Williams; Paul Zador

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1977
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 844 KB
• Volume: 9
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0001-4575
• DOI: 10.1016/0001-4575(77)90007-0

✦ Synopsis

Findings in this study are based on 26,971 passengers less than 15 years of age in reported crashes in 1%7 and later model year automobiles in North Carolina during calendar years 1973 and 1974. (I) Children least likely to be injured in crashes are restrained and in the back seat; those most likely to be injured are unrestrained and are in the front seat. Unrestrained children in the front right seat have the highest injury rate. (2) More than 96% of the children in the surveyed crashes were found unprotected by restraints-paralleling earlier findings for those in cars in general. (3) Back seat location reduced the injury rate by 28% among unrestrained children and 18% among restrained children. Use of restraints reduced the injury rate by 39% in the front seat and 31% in back. (4) Among unrestrained children, back seat location is advantageous for both males and females, for both younger and older children, and in automobiles of various sizes. The advantage of back seat location is most pronounced in frontal impacts. Laws in several European countries regarding belt use and seating location, by in effect forbidding restraint use by some children, may increase the likelihood that those children will be injured in crashes. It is recommended that in automobiles presently on the road without automatic restraints such as air cushions, children be restrained, preferably in the back seat, and that they never travel unrestrained in the front seat.

In several European countries in which laws have been enacted requiring belt use by front seat motor vehicle occupants, children are prohibited from occupying the front seat if other seats are available. In West Germany, the law requiring back seat travel applies to children less than 13 years of age; in Belgium and Switzerland, to those less than 12; and in France and Luxembourg, to those less than 10 [