Citation

Shew R, Dardis R. J. Consum. Policy 1995; 18(4): 417-431.

Affiliation

Department of Economics, University of Maryland, 20742 College Park, MD, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1995, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/BF01024162

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Child safety in automobiles became an important safety issue during the 1970s. It was recognized that children needed their own specific restraint systems and that unrestrained children were particularly susceptible to serious injuries, in particular head injury. As a result performance standards for child restraints were issued by the federal government while states passed child restraint use laws. This study examined the cost per life year saved for child restraints which were in use in 1987. These costs are likely to be overestimated since the analysis did not consider the benefits from injury reduction, the quality of the life year saved and the effect of the child's death on remaining family members. The discount rate had a major impact on the cost per life year saved due to the long life expectancy of young children. It was concluded that child restraints were cost effective though problems of misuse and nonuse remained.