Preventing Child Injuries

New York State Booster Seat Law is Preventing Child Injuries

A new Pediatrics study examines traffic injury rates among booster-seat aged children before and after the implementation of New York State’s 2005 law requiring booster seats.

The study was conducted by the New York State Department of Health’s Bureau of Injury Prevention and funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and the New York Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee.

This is the first study comparing traffic injury rates for booster seat-aged children before and after implementation of the booster seat law in New York.

Key findings include:

.The injury rate for motor vehicle crashes decreased by 18 percent for children 4 to 6 years of age after the NY state law requiring booster seats was implemented in 2005.
.The decrease in child injuries was primarily attributed to a 72 percent increase in the use of child restraints as required by the NY state law.


Published online August 9, 2010
PEDIATRICS (doi:10.1542/peds.2010-0249)

Articles
Effects of Upgraded Child Restraint Law Designed to Increase Booster Seat Use in New York
Kainan Sun, PhD, Michael J. Bauer, MS, Susan Hardman, BS

Bureau of Injury Prevention, New York State Department of Health, Albany, New York

Objective
The goal was to examine the association between the New York State (NYS) upgraded child restraint law (UCRL) implemented in 2005 and the traffic injury rate among 4- to 6-year-old children in New York State.

Methods
A before/after comparison study of population-based, traffic injury rates for 4- to 6-year-old children, using 0- to 3-year-old children as a comparison group, was performed. The effects of UCRL on injury rates among 0- to 3-year-old and 4- to 6-year-old motor vehicle passengers were estimated by using monthly injury count data from the NYS Department of Motor Vehicles Accident Information System.

Results
Children 4 to 6 years of age experienced an 18% reduction in traffic injury rate (adjusted rate ratio [aRR]: 0.82 [95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.79–0.85]) after UCRL implementation, whereas the injury rate for children 0 to 3 years of age, who were not directly affected by the UCRL, did not change appreciably (aRR: 0.95 [95% CI: 0.90–0.99]). In Poisson regression analysis, the aRR for injury for 4- to 6-year-old children was 1.06 (95% CI: 0.92–1.22]) with adjustment for monthly child restraint use rates, which reveals that the significant reduction in the injury rate among 4- to 6-year-old children was mainly attributable to the 72% increase in the child restraint use rate after UCRL implementation (from 29% before UCRL implementation to 50% after implementation).

Conclusions
This is the first study comparing traffic injury rates for booster seat–aged children before and after implementation of the booster seat law in a single state.

Key Words: upgraded child restraint law • motor vehicle crashes • booster seat • accident • passenger • safety • injury

Abbreviations: aRR = adjusted rate ratio • CI = confidence interval • UCRL = upgraded child restraint law • DMV = Department of Motor Vehicles • AIS = Accident Information System

Accepted May 28, 2010.

Learn more:

View the complete article in Pediatrics
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/reprint/peds.2010-0249v1