TY - JOUR
T1 - Car seat inspection among children older than 3 years
T2 - Using data to drive practice in child passenger safety
AU - Kroeker, Amber M.
AU - Teddy, Amy J.
AU - Macy, Michelle Lea
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2015 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - BACKGROUND: Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of unintentional death and disability among children 4 years to 12 years of age in the United States. Despite the high risk of injury from motor vehicle crashes in this age group, parental awareness and child passenger safety programs in particular may lack focus on this age group. METHODS: This is a retrospective cross-sectional analysis of child passenger safety seat checklist forms from two Safe Kids coalitions in Michigan (2013) toidentify restraint type upon arrival to car seat inspections. Other variables were included if the coalition provided a new child safety seat and if the child hada sibling who underwenta car seat inspection. W2 statistics were used to compare change in restraint use on arrival and at departure, the proportion of children attending a car seat inspection event by age, the age category of children by site, the proportion of children with siblings also undergoing a car seat inspection by age, and the distribution of a new child safety seat by age. RESULTS: Data were available from 1,316 Safe Kids Huron Valley and 3,215 Safe Kids Greater Grand Rapids car seat inspections. Just 10.8% of the total seats inspected were booster seats. Child safety seats for infant and young children were more commonly inspected (rear-facing carrier [40.3%], rear-facing convertible [10.2%], and forward-facing [19.3%] car seats). Few children at inspections used a seat belt only (5.4%) or had no restraint (13.8%). Children 4 years and older were foundto be in a suboptimal restraint at least 30% of the time. CONCLUSION: Low proportions of parents use car seat inspections for children in the booster seat age group. The proportion of children departing the inspection in a more protective restraint increased with increasing age. This highlights an area of weakness in child passenger safety programs and signals an opportunity to strengthen efforts on The Booster Age Child.
AB - BACKGROUND: Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of unintentional death and disability among children 4 years to 12 years of age in the United States. Despite the high risk of injury from motor vehicle crashes in this age group, parental awareness and child passenger safety programs in particular may lack focus on this age group. METHODS: This is a retrospective cross-sectional analysis of child passenger safety seat checklist forms from two Safe Kids coalitions in Michigan (2013) toidentify restraint type upon arrival to car seat inspections. Other variables were included if the coalition provided a new child safety seat and if the child hada sibling who underwenta car seat inspection. W2 statistics were used to compare change in restraint use on arrival and at departure, the proportion of children attending a car seat inspection event by age, the age category of children by site, the proportion of children with siblings also undergoing a car seat inspection by age, and the distribution of a new child safety seat by age. RESULTS: Data were available from 1,316 Safe Kids Huron Valley and 3,215 Safe Kids Greater Grand Rapids car seat inspections. Just 10.8% of the total seats inspected were booster seats. Child safety seats for infant and young children were more commonly inspected (rear-facing carrier [40.3%], rear-facing convertible [10.2%], and forward-facing [19.3%] car seats). Few children at inspections used a seat belt only (5.4%) or had no restraint (13.8%). Children 4 years and older were foundto be in a suboptimal restraint at least 30% of the time. CONCLUSION: Low proportions of parents use car seat inspections for children in the booster seat age group. The proportion of children departing the inspection in a more protective restraint increased with increasing age. This highlights an area of weakness in child passenger safety programs and signals an opportunity to strengthen efforts on The Booster Age Child.
KW - Child passenger safety
KW - Program evaluation
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U2 - 10.1097/TA.0000000000000674
DO - 10.1097/TA.0000000000000674
M3 - Article
C2 - 26308122
AN - SCOPUS:84964697601
SN - 2163-0755
VL - 79
SP - S48-S54
JO - Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery
JF - Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery
IS - 3
ER -