Citation

Hall WL, Council F. Proc. Am. Assoc. Automot. Med. Annu. Conf. 1980; 24: 132-146.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1980, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Dr. Ed Christopherson has demonstrated that restrained children are better behaved children in cars and he, along with others, have suggested that better behaved children mean fewer distractions to the driver, thus making for safer driving. This paper documents and supports the hypothesis that unrestrained children can and do actually cause collisions. Narrative accounts of collisions contained in the North Carolina accident files for the five years 1974-1978 were reviewed by computer to select collisions in which unrestrained children were at least a contributing factor. Subsequent analysis of these collisions revealed that during this period, there were at least 554 collisions in which an unrestrained child was the direct cause of the collision with an additional 194 cases in which they were at least a contributing factor. These preventable collisions resulted in one fatality, 572 injuries, and at least $4.1 million in total damages.

Keywords: Driver distraction;