Myers Rachel K, Lombardi Leah R, Pfeiffer Melissa R, Curry Allison E
Center for Injury Research and Prevention, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Traffic Inj Prev. 2022;23(sup1):S213-S217. doi: 10.1080/15389588.2022.2125235. Epub 2022 Sep 29.
Our objective was to describe child passenger restraint use in police reported crashes by key child and driver characteristics.
We used data from 2017-2019 police reported crashes in New Jersey to identify child passengers who: (1) were less than 13 years of age, (2) were in an identified seating location in the first, second, or third vehicle row, and (3) had a known restraint status at the time of the crash. We described prevalence of child restraint use by key child and driver characteristics (child: age, sex, seating position, and crash-reported injury status; driver: age, sex, restraint use, evidenced alcohol use, and crash fault). We included 108,780 crash-involved child passengers in our analytic sample.
A small proportion of child passengers were unrestrained at the time of the crash. Most child passengers <2 years were restrained in a rear-facing restraint (59.7%). However, a sizeable proportion were either forward-facing (26.7%) or belted (11.3%). Use of booster seats among passengers age 5 to 8 years was limited. We observed few fatalities, with most children noted to have no apparent injury (89.8%). Among children with serious, minor, and possible injuries, the greatest proportion of injured children were restrained by the vehicle belt. Regarding driver characteristics, slightly more than half of child passengers riding in vehicles driven by drivers aged 21-34 years were restrained in either rear- or forward-facing restraints (53.0%), whereas the majority of children riding with younger (<21 years) or older (>34 years) drivers were restrained with the vehicle belt. Among unrestrained drivers, drivers with evidence of alcohol use, and drivers at fault for the crash, a larger proportion of children were unrestrained compared to drivers who were restrained, had no evidence of alcohol use, and were not at fault.
While most child passengers were restrained at the time a crash, optimal age-based restraint use was inconsistent, particularly for the youngest child passengers. A sizeable proportion of drivers in this study failed to adhere to best practice recommendations for child restraint use and New Jersey child passenger restraint laws. This was particularly true for drivers who engaged in unsafe driving behaviors, for whom a larger proportion child passengers were unrestrained at the time of the crash. Across all injury categories, the greatest proportion of injured children were restrained by the vehicle belt rather than a child restraint system, suggesting a continued need to understand specific patterns of injuries to inform possible mitigation efforts. Future work to identify intervention opportunities for optimal child restraint practices for drivers is essential to enhancing child passenger safety.
我们的目的是根据关键的儿童和驾驶员特征，描述警方报告的撞车事故中儿童乘客约束装置的使用情况。
我们使用了2017 - 2019年新泽西州警方报告的撞车事故数据，以识别符合以下条件的儿童乘客：（1）年龄小于13岁；（2）位于第一、第二或第三排车辆中确定的座位位置；（3）在撞车时已知约束装置使用状态。我们根据关键的儿童和驾驶员特征（儿童：年龄、性别、座位位置和撞车报告的受伤状况；驾驶员：年龄、性别、约束装置使用情况、有饮酒证据、撞车责任）描述了儿童约束装置的使用普及率。我们的分析样本包括108,780名涉及撞车事故的儿童乘客。
一小部分儿童乘客在撞车时未使用约束装置。大多数2岁以下的儿童乘客使用后向式约束装置（59.7%）。然而，相当一部分儿童乘客要么使用前向式约束装置（26.7%），要么使用安全带（11.3%）。5至8岁乘客使用增高座椅的情况有限。我们观察到很少有死亡情况，大多数儿童没有明显受伤（89.8%）。在受重伤、轻伤和可能受伤的儿童中，受伤儿童中最大比例是使用车辆安全带进行约束的。关于驾驶员特征，乘坐21至34岁驾驶员驾驶车辆的儿童乘客中，略超过一半使用后向式或前向式约束装置（53.0%），而乘坐年龄较小（<21岁）或较大（>34岁）驾驶员车辆的大多数儿童使用车辆安全带进行约束。在未使用约束装置的驾驶员、有饮酒证据的驾驶员以及撞车有责任的驾驶员中，与使用约束装置、没有饮酒证据且无责任的驾驶员相比，未受约束的儿童比例更大。
虽然大多数儿童乘客在撞车时使用了约束装置，但基于年龄的最佳约束装置使用情况并不一致，特别是对于最小的儿童乘客。本研究中有相当比例的驾驶员未遵守儿童约束装置使用的最佳实践建议和新泽西州儿童乘客约束法律。对于从事不安全驾驶行为的驾驶员尤其如此，在撞车时他们车上未受约束的儿童乘客比例更大。在所有伤害类别中，受伤儿童中最大比例是使用车辆安全带进行约束，而不是儿童约束系统，这表明持续需要了解特定的伤害模式，为可能的缓解措施提供信息。确定针对驾驶员的最佳儿童约束实践干预机会的未来工作对于提高儿童乘客安全至关重要。
