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Study Boosts Notion That Booster Seats Save Lives
Oct 20 2009 by Jennifer Newman
Four- to 8-year-olds riding in booster seats are 45 percent less likely to be injured in a crash, according to a study published in the current edition of the Pediatrics journal. If that’s not a reason to keep your child in a booster seat until age 8, I don’t know what is.
The study, which was conducted by the Center for Injury Research and Prevention at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, analyzed data from 7,151 children who were involved in 6,591 car accidents. Researchers found 70 percent of these children were restrained in a car with a seat belt while 30% used a booster seat. Those using only a seat belt had twice the injury risk as the children riding in booster seats.
The use of booster seats was credited with a 68 percent reduction in injury risk for near-side impacts and a whopping 82 percent for far-side impacts.
Seat belts are designed to restrain considerably bigger adults. Booster seats, which come in high-back or backless designs, raise children up so the lap-and-shoulder belt is positioned correctly across a child’s body. Using a booster seat helps distributes the force of a crash across the most resilient parts of a child’s body — especially during side-impact crashes, which are the deadliest for children.
Twenty-seven states and the District of Columbia require kids to ride in booster seats until age 8 or older. To find out your state’s child-seat safety laws, click here. For more information on child-safety seats, check out our car-seat guide and videos here.
Will you keep your child in her booster seat until age 8? Tell us in the comment section below.
