We studied National Trauma Data Bank data to determine the effectiveness of car safety devices in reducing mortality and injury severity in 184,992 patients between 1988 and 2004. Safety device variables were seat belt used plus air bag deployed; only seat belt used; only air bag deployed; and, as explicitly coded, no device used. Overall mortality was 4.17%. Compared with the no-device group, ...

OBJECTIVE Booster seat use among school-aged children has been consistently lower than national goals. In this study, we sought to explore associations between parental experiences with booster seats and carpooling. METHODS We conducted a cross-sectional Web-based survey of a nationally representative panel of US parents in January 2010. As part of a larger survey, parents of 4- to 8-year-old...

Recently, the general public in Japan is attaching increasing importance to the wearing of seatbelts by rear seat occupants. Some projects have been launched to have more rear seat occupants wear seatbelts in Japan. The National Agency for Automobile Safety and Victim's Aid (NASVA), for example, conducted a research project to evaluate the effectiveness of wearing a seatbelt based on crash test...

Childhood death from vehicle crashes and the delivery of information about proper child restraint systems (CRS) use continues to be a critical public health issue. Safe Seat, a sequential, mixed-methods study identified gaps in parental knowledge about and perceived challenges in the use of appropriate CRS and insights into the preferences of various technological approaches to deliver CRS educ...

OBJECTIVES To analyze the mechanism of injury for foot and ankle fractures resulting from automobile accidents to create a basis for developing an improved design for protection. DESIGN Retrospective. SETTING Level I trauma center with accident research unit. PATIENTS Automobile accident reports and medical records of individuals injured in the accidents. MAIN OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS Techn...

BACKGROUND Federal guidelines and state laws mandate that all children must be appropriately restrained while traveling in motor vehicles to reduce the risk of injury and death secondary to motor vehicle accidents. The purpose of this study is to identify the methods of restraint in motor vehicles for children in hip spica casts. METHODS Children placed in hip spica casts between August 1, 20...

Background: Neck injuries in rear-end collisions are still a major problem both for the injured and, in terms of cost, for society. The latest generation of rear-end whiplash protection systems, as found in the WHIPS Volvo and SAHR Saab, have reduced injury rates by almost 50% in comparison with the previous generation of seat/head restraint systems. Occupant behaviour, such as seated posture a...

BACKGROUND Seat belts are designed to reduce injuries due to road crash among vehicle occupants. AIMS This study aims to determine the availability of seat belt in vehicles and compliance with seat belt use among vehicle occupants. MATERIALS AND METHODS This was a 24-h direct observational study of seat belt usage among vehicle occupants in Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria. By direct surveilla...