Child restraint systems (CRS) for vehicles are designed to provide specialized protection for child occupants in the event of a crash. The effectiveness of these restraint systems is influenced by many variables including the way that children are positioned in their CRS. This study used a naturalistic, observational approach to examine how children are restrained and seated in their restraint systems, including booster seats, while travelling in a car. Children's out-of-position status was judged as out of the protective zone provided by the CRS structure or otherwise away from the optimal/preferred location within the CRS or vehicle restraint system. Families with children aged between 1 and 8 years drove an instrumented 'study vehicle' on their regular trips for 3 weeks. A discrete video recording system in the vehicle provided images of the driver and front seat passenger, the rear seat child passengers and the traffic ahead. Video-recordings were analysed for 92 trips undertaken by 12 families including 25 children and 19 drivers. The mean trip duration was approximately 19 minutes (SD = 30 min), with the duration ranging from approximately 2 minutes to 3.6 hours. Most trips were undertaken with the mother driving (65 %) and without a front seat passenger (65 %). Trips were predominantly undertaken in urban areas (96 %), on suburban roads/streets (93 %), and under low complexity traffic conditions (92 %). At least one out-of-position event was observed on all (100 %) of the 92 trips. On average, children were out-of-position approximately 70 % of the journey time. These findings have important implications for children's protection in crashes as arguably their out-of-position status results in sub-optimal restraint and can reduce or nullify the safety benefits of CRS.
How do children really behave in restraint systems while travelling in cars?
Wie verhalten sich Kinder wirklich in Kindersitzen während der Autofahrt ?
2010
11 Seiten, 5 Bilder, 4 Tabellen, 17 Quellen
Conference paper
English
How Do Children Really Behave in Restraint Systems While Travelling in Cars?
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