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Are seat belt restraints as effective in school age children as in adults? A prospective crash study

BMJ 2002; 324 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.324.7346.1123 (Published 11 May 2002) Cite this as: BMJ 2002;324:1123
  1. Stephen I Halman, research fellowa,
  2. Mary Chipman, professor of public health sciencesb,
  3. Patricia C Parkin, associate professor of paediatricsc,
  4. James G Wright, professor of surgery (jim.wright{at}sickkids.ca)a
  1. a Division of Orthopaedic Surgery, Hospital for Sick Children, 555 University Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, M5G 1X8, Canada
  2. b University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 1A8
  3. c Division of Pediatric Medicine, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto
  1. Correspondence to: J G Wright
  • Accepted 20 March 2002

Abstract

Objective: To study effectiveness of seat belts for protecting school age children in road vehicle crashes.

Design: Crash examinations by trained investigators.

Setting: Ten Canadian university based crash investigation centres.

Subjects: 470 children aged 4-14 years, with 168 selected for detailed analysis, and 1301 adults.

Main outcomes measures: Use of seat belts by vehicle occupants; severity of injury adjusted for age and crash severity.

Results: Overall, 40% (189/470) of children were unbelted. Of the 335 children in cars driven by belted adults, 73 (22%) were unbelted. The odds of sustaining fatal or moderately severe injury (injury severity score ≥4) for children in the front passenger seat was more than nine times higher for unbelted children than for belted ones (odds ratio 9.8 (95% confidence interval 2.4 to 39.4)) and for those in the rear left seat was more than two times higher for unbelted than for belted children (2.6 (1.1 to 5.9)). The protection afforded by seat belts compared favourably with the results for adults in the same seat positions (odds ratios for unbelted v belted adults of 2.4 and 2.7 for front and rear seat passengers respectively).

Conclusions: Seat belts helped to protect school age children from injury in road vehicle crashes. However, 40% of children were unbelted. Despite standard seat belts being designed for adults, school age children were at least as well protected as adults.

What is already known on this topic

What is already known on this topic Although child restraints protect young children in road vehicle crashes, it is not known whether standard seat belts used by school age children work as well

School age children are often unbelted in cars

What this study adds

What this study adds Data from detailed crash assessments indicate that seat belts protected children at least as well as adults

Adults were more likely than children to be belted, and 22% of children travelling with belted drivers were unbelted

Footnotes

  • Contributors SIH and JGW wrote the paper. MC and PP helped design the study and commented on drafts. SH and MC performed the analyses. JW will act as guarantor for the paper.

  • Funding JGW holds the Robert B Salter Chair in Paediatric Surgical Research and is a Canadian Institute of Health Research investigator. SIH was supported by the Research Training Centre of the Hospital for Sick Children.

  • Competing interests None declared.

  • Accepted 20 March 2002
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