Identification of safety belt restraint usage characteristics related to four- to thirteen-year-olds.

Details

• Creators:
  Dissanayake, Sunanda ; Asmarasingha, Niranga
• Corporate Creators:
  Kansas State University. Transportation Center
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  Accident Severity Child Restraint Systems Countermeasures Logistic Regression Analysis Seat Belts Traffic Accidents Traffic Safety Utilization
• Publication/ Report Number:
  K-TRAN: KSU-09-5
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  Kansas
• Corporate Publisher:
  Kansas. Dept. of Transportation
• NTL Classification:
  NTL-SAFETY AND SECURITY-Accidents ; NTL-SAFETY AND SECURITY-Highway Safety ; NTL-SAFETY AND SECURITY-Human Factors
• Abstract:
  Involvement in road traffic crashes as vehicle occupants is a leading cause of death and serious injury among children. The
  
  objective of this study was to investigate child safety restraint-use characteristics and crash-severity factors in order to identify
  
  effective countermeasures to increase children’s safety. Crash data were obtained from the Kansas Department of Transportation
  
  from 2004 to 2008. Children were divided into two groups, aged four to seven and eight to 13, considering Kansas child restraint
  
  laws. Frequencies, percentages, and odds ratios were used to investigate restraint-use characteristics, seating positions, and injury
  
  severity. Logistic regression models were developed to identify risk factors which increased injury severity. Results showed
  
  children not restrained, riding with drunk drivers, and riding in older vehicles were more vulnerable for injuries when they were in
  
  crashes. The most frequent contributory causes related to children involved in crashes in Kansas were inattention in driving, failure
  
  to yield right of way, driving too fast, wet roads, and animals in the road. Based on the identified critical factors, countermeasures
  
  to improve child traffic safety were suggested which included age- and size-appropriate seat belt restraints, and the child being in
  
  the rear seat. It is important for parents and children to gain better education about these safety measures that are helpful to
  
  increase child safety on the road.
  
  
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  C1816
• Collection(s):
  University Transportation Centers US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:2e654cf69e6fd0aaf1c783abce08ddbe5a1b1c4587a7c097fe13500d2a169b5f
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/25913/dot_25913_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.52 MB ]