Lives saved by child safety seats from 1982 through 1987.

Child safety seats are very effective in preventing fatality of young occupants of passenger cars. It is estimated that child seat use reduces infant (under one year) fatality risk by 69 percent and toddler (one through four years) fatality risk by 47 percent. Because many child safety seats are incorrectly used, potential effectiveness is probably even higher. Child seats saved an estimated 713 lives between 1982 and 1987. Use of adult belts saved an additional 125 children. The 838 lives saved by child seats and adult belts during these six years is about one-third the number (2,348) that could have been saved if all children under five years old had used child seats every trip. While child seat use is reported to be as high as 80 percent in some observation surveys, use in accidents is much lower. Only 24 percent of young children who survived a fatal traffic accident were protected. For child seats to achieve anything like their potential, they must be much more widely used by children involved in serious crashes. (A) For the covering abstract of the conference see IRRD 837684.