Sharp G B, Carter M A
Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, University of Tennessee, Memphis.
Public Health Rep. 1992 Jan-Feb;107(1):116-8.
Evidence that death and injury rates for young children involved in automobile collisions could be reduced if children were restrained prompted the State of Tennessee to pass the nation's first child passenger law, a law that became effective in January 1978. Although similar laws have now been enacted throughout the United States, usually restraint devices are not provided to low-income groups who may have difficulty affording them. Few studies have examined the use of such devices by welfare recipients. A total of 56 black women, receiving Medicaid and residing in inner city Memphis, were interviewed about their use of passenger restraints during automobile travel for their children ages 0-3 years. About two-thirds of the mothers interviewed said they rarely or never used child passenger restraint devices when transporting their child. Children age 3 years were significantly less likely to be transported in child restraint devices than younger children. Women who had received welfare payments for 3 years or more or who made fewer than one automobile trip a week with their child were significantly less likely to use child passenger restraints. These results suggest that, in spite of child passenger laws, automobile restraint devices are not used for a high percentage of children ages 0-3 years receiving medical care under State and Federal Medicaid programs. Since treatment costs are paid under these programs when children are injured in collisions, program administrators may have strong incentives to increase the proportion of these children being restrained while traveling in motor vehicles.
有证据表明，如果儿童受到约束，涉及汽车碰撞的幼儿死亡率和受伤率可能会降低，这促使田纳西州通过了美国第一部儿童乘客法律，该法律于1978年1月生效。尽管现在美国各地都颁布了类似的法律，但通常不会为那些可能难以负担约束装置的低收入群体提供这些装置。很少有研究调查福利领取者对这类装置的使用情况。研究人员对56名领取医疗补助且居住在孟菲斯市中心的黑人女性进行了访谈，询问她们在汽车旅行中为0至3岁的孩子使用乘客约束装置的情况。约三分之二接受访谈的母亲表示，在运送孩子时，她们很少或从不使用儿童乘客约束装置。3岁的孩子乘坐儿童约束装置的可能性明显低于年幼的孩子。领取福利金3年或更长时间的女性，或者每周带孩子乘车次数少于一次的女性，使用儿童乘客约束装置的可能性明显更低。这些结果表明，尽管有儿童乘客法律，但在州和联邦医疗补助计划下接受医疗护理的0至3岁儿童中，很大一部分在乘车时并未使用汽车约束装置。由于在这些计划下，当儿童在碰撞中受伤时治疗费用会得到支付，计划管理人员可能有强烈的动机提高这些儿童在乘坐机动车时受到约束的比例。
