Road Safety Research Centre, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
Accid Anal Prev. 2010 Mar;42(2):509-14. doi: 10.1016/j.aap.2009.09.015.
The rapidly motorizing environment in Malaysia has made child occupant safety a current public health concern. The usage of child safety seats (CSS) is a widely regarded intervention to enhance child occupant safety, yet no study has been conducted on CSS in Malaysia. This study aims to determine the CSS usage rates in Malaysia and to assess driver characteristics that are associated with CSS usage.
Nine variables - urban versus rural study location, age, gender, marital status, educational status, monthly family income, number of children present in the vehicle, distance traveled to the study location, and attitude - were examined through a cross-sectional study of interviewing drivers of 230 vehicles transporting at least one child <10 years of age at the time of the study. The vehicles were also observed for whether or not there was a CSS present. The interviews were conducted at six sampling locations - three urban and three rural - in the state of Melaka.
27.4% of the drivers were found to be using at least one CSS at the time of the survey. Among the nine variables studied, three of the driver characteristics showed statistical significance (p<0.05) with CSS usage: age (p=0.047), educational status (p=0.009), and attitude (p=0.009).
This study begins to create knowledge on child occupant safety in Malaysia. The results indicate that interventional efforts should focus on educational programs geared toward drivers that are less educated or extended family members who inconsistently transport young children. Furthermore, any educational efforts could be strongly enhanced by legislation mandating the use of CSS. Every effort should be made to thoroughly assess the effectiveness of any educational or legislative activities that are implemented.
马来西亚快速发展的交通环境使得儿童乘客安全成为当前公共卫生关注的焦点。儿童安全座椅（CSS）的使用被广泛认为是提高儿童乘客安全性的干预措施，但马来西亚尚未对此进行研究。本研究旨在确定马来西亚 CSS 的使用率，并评估与 CSS 使用相关的驾驶员特征。
通过对 230 辆在研究时至少载有一名<10 岁儿童的车辆的驾驶员进行横断面研究，检查了九个变量-城乡研究地点、年龄、性别、婚姻状况、教育程度、月家庭收入、车内儿童人数、前往研究地点的距离以及态度。还观察了车辆是否配备了 CSS。访谈在六个采样地点（三个城市和三个农村）进行，地点位于马来西亚马六甲州。
在调查时，发现 27.4%的驾驶员至少使用了一个 CSS。在所研究的九个变量中，有三个驾驶员特征与 CSS 使用具有统计学意义（p<0.05）：年龄（p=0.047）、教育程度（p=0.009）和态度（p=0.009）。
本研究开始为马来西亚的儿童乘客安全创建知识基础。结果表明，干预措施应重点针对教育计划，针对教育程度较低的驾驶员或不经常接送幼儿的大家庭成员。此外，通过立法强制使用 CSS，可以大大增强任何教育努力。应尽一切努力彻底评估实施的任何教育或立法活动的有效性。
