Restraint ue by young children reached record levels in 2002, with 99% of infants and 94% of toddlers restrained. On the other hand, too many youngsters remain in the front seat, with 15% of infants, 10% of 1-3 year olds, and 29% of 4-7 year olds in this more dangerous seating position. Also, the restraint status of the driver continues to be strongly related to that of his or her child passengers, indicating that belt enforcement programmes save kids' lives as well as benefiting adults. These results are from the National Occupant Protection Use Survey (NOPUS), which provides the only probability-based observed data on the use of child restraints on the nation's roads. The survey is conducted by the US National Center for Statistics and Analysis (NCSA) in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The survey also found that: only 83% of 4-7 year olds are restrained; male drivers are improving at restraining their child passengers; and, although some premature graduation remains, programmes that educate caregivers about proper child restraints seem to be working. This is the first time NOPUS has measured the restraint use of 4-7 year olds. In addition, the incorporation of this new age category gave rise to changes in the NOPUS definitions of toddlers, from 1-4 year olds to 1-3 year olds, and of children, from under 5 to under 8 years. Consequently, changes in restraint estimates for toddlers and combined restraint estimates for all children could be due to these changes in age groups. (A)
Abstract