INTRODUCTION We examined the accuracy of research participant characterizations of motor vehicle collisions (MVC). METHODS We conducted an emergency department-based prospective study of adults presenting for care after experiencing an MVC. Study participants completed a structured clinical interview that assessed the number of lanes of the road where the collision took place, vehicle type, r...

Britain introduced a belt-use law in July 1981 to become effective on 31 January 1983, a full 13 years after Australia. In the USA, priority was given to laws requiring infants and young children to be appropriately restrained so that between 1977 and 1984 all 50 states and the District of Colombia enacted child passenger safety laws. It was not until 12 July 1984 that New York became the first...

BACKGROUND Many children 4 to 9 years old are inappropriately restrained in vehicles and are at risk for injury in crashes. OBJECTIVES This study was undertaken to determine the rate of booster seat use and the reasons for nonuse. METHODS Observations were conducted at a random sample of day care centers, and drivers of unrestrained children 4 to 8 years old were interviewed to determine th...

Motion platforms can be used to provide vestibular cues in a driving simulator, and have been shown to reduce driving speed and acceleration. However, motion platforms are expensive devices, and alternatives for providing motion cues need to be investigated. In independent experiments, the following eight low-cost nonvestibular motion cueing systems were tested by comparing driver performance t...

OBJECTIVE To estimate the contributions of five risk factors to changes in US traffic crash mortality: (1) alcohol use by drivers and pedestrians, (2) not wearing a seat belt, (3) lack of an air bag, (4) not wearing a motorcycle helmet, and (5) not wearing a bicycle helmet. DESIGN Longitudinal study of deaths; attributable deaths were estimated using data from other studies. SETTING US traf...

The importance of head injuries to restrained far seat occupants has been previously documented. Control of the kinematics leading to these injuries can likely be achieved by improved torso lateral restraint. In adults, seat belt pre-tensioning reduced lateral head displacement by approximately 200 mm in far-side impacts. Children, however, may demonstrate greater lateral movement as previous s...

In recent model years, Ford vehicles have been equipped with a supplementary seat belt reminder system that flashes and chimes intermittently for up to 5 min if the driver is unbelted. Sound- and light-based belt reminder systems of various types are beginning to appear in the market place, and it is important to learn about their acceptance and ability to increase belt use. The present study w...

Seat-belt fractures of the lumbar spine in adolescents and adults are well recognised but there are few reports of these injuries in young children. We reviewed all seat-belt injuries in skeletally immature patients (Risser 0), seen at a tertiary referral centre between 1974 and 1991. There were ten cases, eight girls and two boys, with an average age of 7.5 years (3 to 13). Four distinct patte...