The State of the Art of Child Passenger Safety Legislation in North America

831650

10/17/1983

Event
27th Stapp Car Crash Conference with IRCOBI and Child Injury and Restraint Conference with IRCOBI (1983)
Authors Abstract
Content
Child safety seats provide an effective means for protecting children in car crashes. Without legislation, few States have been able to obtain usage rates greater than the 20-30 percent range. As a result, 40 States, the District of Columbia, and five Canadian Provinces have now passed child passenger safety laws. These laws vary considerably from State to State. The most important provisions and variations among these laws are summarized in this paper. Since only 19 State laws have been in existence for six months or more, unequivocal data concerning their effectiveness is not yet available. However, initial data gathered on both a national (19 city) level and in various States suggests that these laws are effective in terms of raising usage rates and lowering deaths and injuries to young children. Much needs to be done, however, to realize the full potential of such legislation. Specifically, education, loan-a-seat programs, and most importantly, enforcement must be improved and promoted.
Meta TagsDetails
DOI
https://doi.org/10.4271/831650
Pages
14
Citation
Lawless, E., and Siani, T., "The State of the Art of Child Passenger Safety Legislation in North America," SAE Technical Paper 831650, 1983, https://doi.org/10.4271/831650.
Additional Details
Publisher
Published
Oct 17, 1983
Product Code
831650
Content Type
Technical Paper
Language
English