Protecting Children In Car Accidents: Everybody Buckle Up

I remember the refrain from my childhood "Buckle up for safety buckle up. Buckle up for safety everybody buckle up. Put your mind at ease, tell your driver please, buckle up for safety everybody buckle up."

That commercial back in the 60's and 70's summarizes the most important finding in the latest research by the National Highway and Transportation Safety Administration concerning child safety in motor vehicle collisions in Maryland, the District of Columbia and nationally.

The National Occupant Protection Use Survey (NOPUS) is a comprehensive examination of the extent of the use of safety restraints from 2002 to 2008.

We examine this survey in detail elsewhere, but two things are clear, restraint use is critical to preventing or limiting child injuries in car crashes and drivers who use seatbelts themselves are far more likely to employ restraints for their children.