Exposure-based death rates for child motor vehicle occupants.

The authors used reports of additional occupants on trips from the U.S. Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey (NPTS) to estimate travel in cars and trucks for children age nine years and younger. For children age five to nine years these indirect estimates were 98% of directly reported travel. Using this travel data, the death rate was 4.0 per billion km of travel for children less than age one year and decreased to 1.7 for children age nine years. Infants have a higher exposure-based death rate for travel in cars and trucks than older children despite greater restraint use. (Author/publisher)