Among 4- through 7-year-old passenger vehicle occupants in the USA, fatalities have declined 14.5% from 1999 to 2003. The number of injured passenger vehicle occupants age 4 through 7 has dropped from 71,000 in 1999 to 52,000 in 2003. Passenger vehicles consist of passenger cars, sport utility vehicles (SUVs), vans, and pickups. The fatalities and injuries analyzed in this research note are limited to people within passenger vehicles in transport. Other results are: * In 2003, almost half of the 4- through 7-year-old occupants who were fatally injured were unrestrained; * The percent of fatally injured occupants 4 through 7 who were unrestrained declined from 61 percent to 49 percent from 1999 to 2003; * The number of unrestrained occupants 4 through 7 who were fatally injured decreased 31 percent, from 235 in 1999 to 163 in 2003. Two-thirds of this decrease occurred from 1999 to 2000; and * in 2003, the percent of injured 4- through 7-year-old passenger vehicle occupants that were unrestrained dropped to an all-time low of 11 percent. Three databases were used: the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), the National Automotive Sampling System General Estimates System (GES), and the National Occupant Protection Use Survey (NOPUS).
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