MOST WANTED
TRANSPORTATION SAFETY
IMPROVEMENTS

State Issues
HIGHWAY
Improve Child Occupant Protection

Children deserve the highest level of safety in all modes of transportation, but the issue is most critical on our nation's highways.

From 2000-2009, more than 3,000 child occupants between the ages of 4 and 8 died in traffic crashes.

• About 45 percent of those 3,000 children were unrestrained. Of those restrained, most were improperly restrained in a seat belt that was designed for adults, rather than in a child safety seat or booster seat.
• According to Partners for Child Passenger Safety, although abdominal injuries from crashes are relatively rare, children restrained in seat belts are 3.5 times more likely to suffer an abdominal injury compared to optimally restrained children. In that study, there were no reported abdominal injuries among children 4-8 years old who were restrained in booster seats.

Safety Recommendation: This issue area currently includes one recommendation (H-96-14).

H-96-14 (to the states, the District of Columbia, and the territories)
Issued: October 26, 1996
Added to the Most Wanted List: 1997
Status: Varies
Review existing laws and enact legislation, if needed, that would ensure that children up to 8 years old are required by the state's mandatory child restraint use law to use child restraint systems and booster seats. (Source: 1996 Safety Study on the Performance and Use of Child Restraint Systems, Seat Belts, and Air Bags for Children in Passenger Vehicles [NTSB/SS-96-01])

Summary of Action

Forty-seven states, three territories, and the District of Columbia require the use of booster seats, although only 29 states (AK, CO, DE, HI, IL, IN, KS, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, NJ, NY, NC, OH, OR, PA, RI, TN, TX, UT, VT, VA, WA, WV, WI, and WY), three territories (Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands), and the District of Columbia require their use through age 7, as the NTSB recommended.

In 2009, four states (AK, MN, OH, and TX), Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands enacted child restraint laws to fully implement this recommendation, and at least three states (FL, MT, and OK) considered legislative proposals to improve their child passenger safety laws in accordance with the NTSB's recommendation. New York and Rhode Island amended their existing laws to fully implement this recommendation.

In 2010, Colorado amended its existing law to fully implement this recommendation, and at least five states (AZ, FL, KY, SC, and UT) considered legislative proposals to improve their child passenger safety laws in accordance with the NTSB's recommendation.

Action(s) Remaining

Three states (AZ, FL, and SD) should enact laws requiring children between the ages of 4 and 8 to ride in booster seats. Eighteen states and two territories (American Samoa and Puerto Rico) should amend their existing laws to require all children between the ages of 4 and 8 to ride in booster seats.

Footnotes

1. A special cooperative program between The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and State Farm Insurance Companies to study child occupant protection.