North Carolina's Child Passenger Safety Law, covering children under age 2, went into effect July 1, 1982. This law was expanded to cover children under age 6 as of July 1, 1985. Data contained in the North Carolina traffic accident files were analyzed to determine the effects of this restraint legislation on fatalities and injuries to children under the age of sixteen. Injury data indicates that there has been a 21% reduction in the fatal plus serious injury rate for children less than age six between 1982 and 1990.
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