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Child Safety - Motor Vehicle

• Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of injury death in the United States for people aged 1-34.
• In 1997, nearly 42,000 people died on the nation's roads and highways, and another 3.5 million suffered nonfatal injuries.
• Motor vehicle crashes took the lives of 5,606 teenagers and 2,027 children in 1998. Older adults, as a group, are also at higher risk of dying from motor vehicle crashes.
• In the United States, 5,220 pedestrians died from traffic-related injuries and another 69,000 pedestrians sustained non-fatal injuries in 1998.
• In 1998, 38% of traffic fatalities were alcohol-related; either the driver or an affected person (e.g., a pedestrian or a bicyclist) had a blood alcohol concentration of at least 0.01 gram per deciliter (g/dL).

• Injuries resulting from motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for children 1-14 years old. In 1998, they accounted for 46% of all unintentional injury-related deaths in this age group.
• Since 1975, the motor vehicle-related death rate for children between 0-12 years has decreased 49%. Death rates for pedestrians and bicyclists declined about 70%, while death rates among child passengers in motor vehicles decreased 13%.
• In 1998, 2,027 children 12 years old and younger were killed in motor vehicle crashes. Of those who died, 65% were passengers in vehicles, 23% were pedestrians, and 7% were pedalcyclists.

• 33% (3,042) of children were in the wrong restraint for their size and age.
• 63% (1,626) of kids who should have been in belt-positioning booster seats (typically ages 4 to 8) were inappropriately restrained

• 14% (1,295) of children were riding completely unrestrained.
• 24% (284) of kids ages 10-14, and 20% of kids ages 5-9 were riding completely unrestrained.

• Nearly 24% of children 0-14 years old who died in motor vehicle crashes in 1985-1996 were killed in alcohol-related crashes.
• Results from the same study showed that 64% of all child passengers who died in motor vehicle crashes involving a drinking driver with a BAC > 0.10 g/dL were riding in the impaired driver's car.

• All children aged 12 years and younger should ride in the back seat for two important reasons. First, the back seat is generally the safest place in a vehicle during a crash. Second, children sitting in the front seat have been injured and killed by passenger air bags as they inflate in a crash. If your vehicle has a passenger air bag, children aged 12 years and younger should always ride in the back.
• Infants should ride in rear-facing child safety seats until they weigh 20 pounds and are one year old. Never place a rear-facing child safety seat in front of an air bag.
• Toddlers and preschoolers aged 1 to 4 years should ride in a forward-facing child safety seat until they weigh about 40 pounds (usually around age four), or until their ears reach the top of the back of the child safety seat, or their shoulders are above the top seat-strap slots.
• Children who have outgrown their child safety seats should ride in a booster seat that positions the shoulder belt across the chest and the lap belt low across the upper thighs. Children should use a booster seat until the lap and shoulder belts in the car fit properly, usually when they are at least 4 feet, 10 inches tall and weigh at least 80 pounds. To ride comfortably and safely, children must be able to bend their knees over the edge of the seat while sitting with their backs firmly against the seat back (without slouching). In most cases, this means that children 4 to 8 years old should ride in a booster seat.
• Children who have outgrown their booster seats should always use a safety belt. The child must be tall enough to sit without slouching, with knees bent at the edge of the seat, with feet on the floor. The lap belt must fit low and tight across the upper thighs. The shoulder belt should rest over the shoulder and across the chest. Never put the shoulder belt under the child's arm or behind the child's back.
• Teens and adults should never drink and drive. And they should always wear a safety belt.

• As of November 1, 2000, 98 children have been killed by passenger air bags.
• Nearly 20 percent of these deaths were among infants in rear-facing car seats placed in front of a passenger airbag. Almost all children killed by passenger airbags were either unrestrained or improperly restrained at the time of the crash.
• Most crashes (75 percent) occur within 25 miles of home. The majority also occurs on roads with posted speed limits of 40 mph or less.
• More than one-fifth of all traffic deaths among children ages 14 and under involve alcohol. Nearly 65 percent of the children killed in alcohol-related crashes are passengers in vehicles with drunk drivers.
• Rural areas have higher motor vehicle crash incidence rates and death rates; crashes in these areas also tend to be more severe.

• http://www.buckleupamerica.org
• http://www.carseat.org

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