Use of Car Seats in Crashes has Increased

The use of safety seats among children eight years old and younger has increased over the last several years, which has reduced the amount of deaths and injuries caused by car accidents.

The decade long Partners for Child Passenger Safety study of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and State Farm, with the support of the Association of International Automobile Manufacturers, found that car seat use among restrained children 8 and younger increased to 80 percent in 2007 from 51 percent 8 years earlier. These findings are based on insurance claims from 1998 to 2008 and phone survey information on more than 875,000 children in accidents.

According to the study, almost 100 percent of restrained children ages 3 and younger in car crashes have been in car seats since 1999. However, safety seat usage in older children is much lower. In 2007, only 63 percent of 4-8 year-olds were restrained appropriately. A large percentage of children in this age group rode in adult seat belts without the use of a car seat. Generally, seat belts don’t fit properly until a child reaches approximately 4 feet, 9 inches tall.

The study found that only 31 percent of 4-5 year-old rode in harness restraints in 2007. Highback boosters have become more popular recently over backless boosters. Previous research has shown that boosters decrease the risk of a child being injured in a car crash by 59 percent for 4-7 year-olds when compared to seat belts alone. Booster seats help reduce the risk of injury in a car accident because the child is elevated and the lap and shoulder belts are better positioned on the child’s body.

“More parents than ever now realize that kids need the help of a booster seat to make sure the belt fits properly across the bony parts of their lap and shoulder rather than across the soft belly or the neck, which are more prone to injury,” says Kristy Arbogast, director of engineering at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Center for Injury Research and Prevention.

Some of the other interesting findings of this study included the following:

• 60 percent of accidents involving children occur within 10 minutes of home
• 84 percent of accidents involving children occur within 20 minutes of home
• 14 percent of accidents involving children are on roads where posted speed limits are 55 mph or higher (these accidents result in the highest rates of injury)
• Almost half of accidents involving children happen on roads with posted speed limits of 25 to 44 mph

If your child has been injured in a car accident, contact the experienced car crash attorneys at Phillip Miller & Associates at (800) 337-HURT (4878) or (615) 356-2000 for expert legal advice.

Phillip Miller & Associates
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Phone: (615) 356-2000
Fax: (615) 242-1739
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