Only One in 100 Children Between 6 and 8 Years Old are Properly Restrained In Pennsylvania Autos, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Study Shows

    PHILADELPHIA, July 5 In response to the introduction of
the Child Passenger Protection Act of 2001, which calls for improved state
laws to protect the nation's most vulnerable passengers, the Partners for
Child Passenger Safety Study (PCPS) has released data from its study that is
specific to child passengers in Pennsylvania.  PCPS data show that less than
1 percent of Pennsylvania children enrolled in the study, who are between
6 and 8 years old, are appropriately restrained according to the current
recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the U.S.
Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
(NHTSA).
    PCPS data show that children restrained in seat belts rather than a car
seat or booster seat are 3.5 times more likely to suffer a serious injury.  In
the overall study, which analyzes State Farm crash data, more than 90 percent
of 4-to-8-year-old children who are seriously injured are not restrained in a
booster seat.
    The study, being conducted at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia in
collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania and State Farm Mutual
Automobile Insurance Company, highlights interesting child passenger restraint
patterns as well as patterns of injuries sustained by Pennsylvania children.
    "Of concern to me as a pediatrician, is the direct correlation between
inappropriate restraint and injuries sustained by children," states Flaura
Winston, M.D., Ph.D., principal investigator for the study.  "Parents who
graduate their children prematurely to adult seats belts need to realize that
seat belts are designed to protect an average-sized adult -- not a child's
small body.  Most parents in Pennsylvania are missing the vital booster seat
step."
    Once a child's car seat is completely outgrown, based on manufacturer's
recommendation, the child should graduate to a belt-positioning booster seat.
The booster seat raises the child so that the adult lap/shoulder belt fits the
child properly.  The child should remain in the booster seat until she is big
enough so that the adult seat belt fits her properly without the booster seat,
usually around 4'9" and 80 pounds.
    In Pennsylvania, 88 percent of 4-to-8-years-olds are restrained in an
adult seat belt rather than the recommended belt-positioning booster seat,
according to the PCPS study.
    Additional statistics from PCPS provide insight into other age groups;
PCPS determined that 23 percent of infants in Pennsylvania are incorrectly
turned forward-facing in their car seats before age 1 year.  Infants should
remain in a rear-facing car seat until at least 1 year AND 20 pounds,
according to AAP and NHTSA.
    AAP and NHTSA recommend that children, 12 years and under, should ride in
the rear seat of the vehicle.  PCPS data show that 14 percent of 4-to-8-year-
olds and 42 percent of 9-to-12-year-olds in Pennsylvania are riding
inappropriately in the front seat.  Overall, 16 percent of Pennsylvania's
children age 12 years and under are riding in the front seat of vehicles.
    The PCPS study also determined injuries by body region to children in car
crashes.  In Pennsylvania, 29 percent of children in serious crashes sustained
an injury.  Seventy-two percent of the serious injuries to Pennsylvania
children were to the head or face.  Seventeen percent of serious injuries were
extremity injuries, 8 percent were abdominal injuries associated with "seat
belt syndrome," and 3 percent were other injuries.
    PCPS is the first comprehensive research study in the United States of how
and why children are killed in car crashes.  It is a collaboration of
researchers at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of
Pennsylvania, and State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company.  Research is
currently being conducted in:  Arizona, California, Delaware, Illinois,
Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina,
Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.  Claims information
collected, with privacy safeguards, from State Farm policy holders in these
states represent more than 250,000 State Farm insured children per year who
are under the age of 16 and involved in crashes in 1990 model year or newer
vehicles.  Research began in 1997 and the project remains the largest single
research study devoted exclusively to pediatric motor vehicle injury.
    People interested in learning more about the Partners for Child Passenger
Safety can log onto traumalink.chop.edu.  A fact sheet about PCPS findings for
the State of Pennsylvania is available as a downloadable pdf file.

    CONTACT:  Suzanne Hill of The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia,
215-590-1417, or hillsu@email.chop.edu.