In order to save the lives of children and toddlers, researchers looked over detailed police reports and photos from crash sites to determine the causes of death. This information is valuable to researchers as an aid to improving child restraints in order to alleviate fatalities. This article reviews statistics of crash types and causes of fatalities among children and infants involved in car accidents. Research reveals that child restraints are doing well because most fatalities are due to severe crashes with a complete loss of survival space. Incompatible child restraints and vehicles have caused some fatalities, but with the new Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children (LATCH) law, hopefully these preventable fatalities will come to an end. Because most fatalities are due to side impacts, the performance of restraints in such situations should be a chief concern. However, since there are no side impact dummies to represent children, nor are there established procedures to represent it, it may take some time before restraint performances improve.
Samenvatting