Car transportation conditions of preschool children: use of children's car safety seats

• Published in: Acta Paediatrica 1997-02, Vol.86 (2), p.192-195
• Main Authors: Kostaridou, S, Anastasea-Vlachou, K, Sotiropoulou, F, Panagopoulou, G, Panagopoulou, M, Papathanasiou-Klontza, D, Xipolita-Zachariadi, A
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Age Factors; Automobiles; Biological and medical sciences; Car accidents; car safety seats; Child, Preschool; children; Education; Family; Female; Greece; Humans; Infant; Infant Equipment - statistics & numerical data; Infant, Newborn; injury; Male; Medical sciences; Miscellaneous; Socioeconomic Factors; Surveys and Questionnaires; Traumas. Diseases due to physical agents
• ISSN: 0803-5253; 1651-2227
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1651-2227.1997.tb08867.x

The objective of this study was to evaluate children's car safety seat usage in a non‐random study population of the Capital and surrounding area of Attica and a provincial region in Greece. One or both of the parents of 1556 children (aged 0–4 years) were interviewed. A questionnaire covering car safety seat usage by area of residence, age of parents, educational background, socioeconomic status and the number of siblings was completed. Optimal car safety seat restraint usage in the Attica region was 10.4% for infants 0–6 months old, 37.6% for infants 7–12 months old, 40.9% for children aged 1–2 years and 12% for children aged 3–4 years; the use of restraint systems in the provincial area was even lower at 4.9%, 15.2%, 24% and 6.6%, respectively. The mother's age, number of children and the socioeconomic status of the family seemed to influence the purchase and usage of the car safety seat. Such a high percentage of non‐usage of car safety restraint seats has led to the Paediatric Society's initiative to create informative general public educational programmes and to urge governmental legislation regarding mandatory usage of children's car safety seats.