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Child and Youth Transportation Safety
The NTSB Child and Youth Transportation Safety Initiative will promote child occupant safety in all modes of transportation with a focus on educating parents and caregivers about ways to keep children safe when traveling. The NTSB will also continue to push for adoption of its recommendations concerning child occupant safety, such as:
- Requiring separate seats and restraints for all airplane occupants, and requiring children younger than 2 to be restrained by an appropriate child restraint system during air travel
- Ensuring that children up to 8 years old are required to use child restraint systems and booster seats when traveling in passenger vehicles
- Enact strong graduated licensing laws and enforce them, including restrictions on numbers of passengers
- Implementing boating safety standards to include mandatory use of personal floatation devices for children
Aviation Safety
Videos and Simulations
Protecting your child while traveling doesn't stop at the airport boarding gate. Use an approved child safety seat during the flight as well. |
 Sled Tests with Child Dummies in Simulated Airplane Crashes. (WMV, 23 MB) |
 In the American Airlines Flight 1420 accident in Little Rock, Arkansas, shown in the simulation below, a 2-year old seated in a child safety seat was uninjured. The child's mother stated that it would have been impossible to hold the child during the crash if the child had been seated on her lap. (AVI, 5 MB) |
Related Information
Safety Alerts
- Child Passenger Safety on Aircraft: Parents Urged To Use Child Restraint Systems When Traveling With Children - PDF (121 KB)
NTSB Child Passenger Safety Recommendations and Information
- 2010: A-10-121 through 123, Child Restraint Recommendation
- 1995: A95-40-51
- 1993: A93-106-107
- 1990: A90-78-79
- NTSB Response to FAA's Diversion to Automobile Argument
Aviation Safety Recommendation Letters:
Additional Resources
NTSB Presentations & Reports
- Child Restraint in Aircraft Symposium, December 15-16, 1999
Highway Safety
Videos and Simulations
Always make sure your children travel in an approved car seat or booster seat that has been properly installed. |
Chairman Hersman's Remarks on Seat Belt Use, including a booster seat demonstration. |
Chairman Hersman Visits Child Safety Seat Check Point |
 Crash simulations show how booster seats can save lives. (Windows Media, 3.5MB) |
Related Information
Safety Alerts
NTSB Child Passenger Safety Recommendations and Information
- H-96-14 and H-96-16 (October 23, 1996)
- H-97-1 and H-97-2 (July 1, 1997)
- H-99-1 (January 13, 1999)
- H-99-2 (January 13, 1999)
- H-99-3 (January 13, 1999)
- H-99-4 (January 13, 1999)
Additional Resources
NTSB Presentations & Reports
- The Performance and Use of Child Restraint Systems, Seatbelts, and Air Bags for Children in Passenger Vehicles (NTSB Safety Study 1996)
2010 NTSB Forum: Child Passenger Safety in the Air and in Automobiles
General Resources
NTSB Presentations & Reports
- Highlights of the 2010 NTSB Child Passener Safety Forum, presented at the 2011 Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting, January 24, 2011
- SR0002.pdfPutting Children First (NTSB Safety Report 2000)
- Proceedings from Public Forum on Air Bags and Child Passenger Safety, March 17-20, 1997
