Traffic Safety–Related Priorities for Preteens and Adolescents

Significant progress has been made in reducing the number of motor vehicle crash (MVC) injuries among young children in the United States. From 1996 to 2012, there was a 55% decline in MVC fatalities and a 53% decline in MVC injuries among children ages 14 and younger. 1-3 Despite this success, maintaining appropriate restraint use as children age continues to be a challenge. In 2013, 2% of children under the age of 1 year were observed to be unrestrained in a national observational study. In comparison, 11% of children ages 8 to 12 years were observed to be unrestrained. 4 The objective of this study was, for children 8 to 15 years, to (a) identify current programs addressing occupant protection and (b) develop a set of priority questions to address gaps in research, education, and communication for occupant protection. Methods In March 2014, a 10-question survey was distributed to a child passenger safety practitioner network through a monthly newsletter to child passenger safety technicians managed by Safe Kids Worldwide. The objective of the survey was to identify any existing occupant protection safety education or programming for children ages 8 to 15 years. Respondents were asked if they were a Certified Child Passenger Safety Technician, and if they were involved in programs that educate parents, care-givers, and children in 3 age groups (8-10 years, 11-12 years, and 13-15 years). Open-ended questions were asked to describe the programs, and challenges and barriers they experienced when implementing or developing programs to reach this audience. In April 2014, approximately 100 child passenger safety advocates attended the in-person workshop, " Out of Boosters—The New Frontier: Extending Occupant Protection Messaging to Reach Kids 8 to 15, " at the Lifesavers National Conference on Highway Safety. A normative group process was used to solicit information from the audience of practitioners and prioritize suggestions. Participants identified needs of children ages 8 to 10 years, 11 to 12 years, and 13 to 15 years. 5 Following a series of presentations on child development, injury patterns, available research, and an existing program that was identified from the premeeting survey, a series of 8 predetermined questions (Table 1) were posed regarding gaps in research, education, and communication. Attendees identified gaps in, and strategies to improve, these 3 areas for the 3 age groups. All research activities were deemed exempt from review by our institutional review board. Results Fifty-two participants from 28 …