RESTRAINT USE LEGISLATION - ITS PROSPECTS FOR INCREASING THE PROTECTION OF CHILDREN IN CARS

Very few children traveling in cars-even fewer than adults-are restrained, and effective ways need to be found to increase their crash protection. One potential mechanism for accomplishing this goal is through laws requiring restraint use. Unfortunately, seat belt use laws have tended to exempt children, and the increases in restraint use and decreases in occupant fatalities that have resulted from some of these laws have not been shared by children. Empirical evidence from several countries indicates that children can be protected by seat belts, and thus they should be included in belt use legislation. Several Australian states have now extended restraint use legislation to children less than eight years old, requiring them to use seat belts or child restraints. In the United States, Tennessee has a law in force requiring use of child restraints by children less than four years old. Present child restraint laws have major gaps and shortcomings that limit their potential effectiveness, and the data available at this writing indicate that the effects of the laws have, at best, been slight. It is more likely that significant advances in protecting children in cars can be achieved through implementation of measures that provide protection automatically to virtually all the people for whom they are available, whether children or adults. © 1979.