Abstract
Children 4-14 are generally too large for child seats and too small for seat belts designed for adults. The effectiveness of seat belts for these children, and the factors associated with altered effectiveness (age of child, seat position) are examined. Records of all crashes in Ontario for 1988-1992 were either a child occupant or the driver was killed or admitted to hospital were included. Using Evans's double pair comparison method, the odds ratio for death or hospitalization of the children in these crashes as an indicator of the effectiveness of the belts, was estimated. The results suggest that seat belts are at least as effective for children as for the adults for whom they were designed.