Safety Seats, Not Seat Belts, Can Protect Children In An Accident
NEW YORK: In a car crash, an infant secured in a safety seat has a far greater chance of survival compared to when buckled only in a seat belt. The current issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine presents a study comparing data from more than 9,200 crashes. A team of researchers led by Michael R. Elliott of University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, said child restraint systems, like a safety seat, were more effective in protecting young children in a car crash-up.
The team chose to look beyond government safety evaluations and probe deeper for a better assessment of survival chances for young children between the age of two through six. They decided to pass up the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) census by the US Department of Transportation. The FARS data for fatal car crashes is not very helpful, the researchers said, because it makes no distinction between how the child occupants of the cars were secured to their seats. The government census assumes that there was no difference between how surviving children were secured in fatal crashes and in non-fatal crashes. The team preferred instead to examine the National Automative Sampling System Crashworthiness Data System (NASS CDS).
This source provided data for 7,813 fatal and 1,433 non-fatal crashes that took place between 1998 and 2003. The results indicate a link between child safety seats and a 21 percent lower risk of death, when compared with the benefit of seat belts. These included cases where the safety seats were improperly used, which meant the actual risk of death was even lower at 28 percent. The research was conducted for the Center for Injury Research and Prevention at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. The team said efforts must continue to promote the usage of child safety seats through educational programs and improved laws.
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