FINAL REPORT

2002 MISSISSIPPI CHILD RESTRAINT SURVEY

Prepared for:

The Office of Highway Safety,

Division of Public Safety Planning,
Mississippi Department of Public Safety
February 2003

Prepared by:
James W. Landrum and David R. Parrish
Social Science Research Center
Mississippi State University
Mississippi State, MS 39762
 INTRODUCTION

Highway safety continues to be a major health problem for children in Mississippi.

The key factor in the number of death and crippling injuries for Mississippi’s children is not

dues to measles, mumps etc., but due to the lack of or the improper use of child restraint in

motor vehicles. Consider the alarming facts in the text box below. These figures are provided

by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) on their web page. (See below in text box)

TAKEN FROM NATIONAL CENTERFOR INJURY PREVENTION AND CONTROL

http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/childpas.htm#occurrences

Motor vehicle injuries are the greatest public health problem facing children today. In fact, they
are the leading cause of death among children at every age after their first birthday.

• In 2000, 1,471 child passengers ages 0 to14 died in motor vehicle crashes in the United States
(NHTSA 2001a), and more than 250,000 sustained injuries requiring treatment in an emergency
department (WISQARS 2001). Many of these injuries could have been prevented.

• Of the children ages 0 to 12 years who were killed in motor vehicle crashes during 1999–2000,
52% were unrestrained, 18% were incorrectly restrained, and 35% were riding in the front seat.
(NHTSA 2001a).

• Fewer than 10% of 5- to 8-year-olds use booster seats, the recommended safety seat for this age
group (Durbin 2001).

• Child safety seats reduce the risk of death in passenger cars by about 70% for infants and by
about 55% for toddlers ages 1 to 4 (NHTSA 2001b).

• The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recommends booster seats for children over
40 pounds until at least age 8 (NHTSA 2002).

• For children ages 9 years and older, car seat belts reduce injury risk by about 50% (NHTSA
2001b).

• All children ages 12 years and younger should ride in the back seat. This eliminates the injury risk
of deployed front passenger-side airbags and places children in the safest part of the vehicle in the
event of a crash. Riding in the back seat is associated with a 46% reduction in the risk of fatal
injury in cars with a front passenger-side airbag and at least a 30% reduction in the risk of fatal
injury in cars with no front passenger-side airbag (Braver 1998).
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BACKGROUND

Each year citizens, governmental agencies and private advocacy groups participate in a major

effort to combat this needless death and injury to our children. Tickets are written to those who violate

the child restraint law. Large numbers of child restraint clinics staffed by highly trained child restraint

technicians are provided at no cost to the public. A sizable amount of time, effort and money are

devoted to increasing child restraint use. These efforts included media campaigns, brochures,

programs, providing free child restraint seats to those who cannot afford them etc. In order to help

evaluate the effect of these programs, child restraint surveys are conducted in cities in every

geographical area of Mississippi. The surveys are not truly scientific, but do provide an over all raw

analysis on child restraint use in Mississippi. Since these surveys are only observational they do not

provide a measure of the proper use of child, except in a very general way, i.e., incorrectly placing

children in rear facing seats on the front seat in front of airbags.

These efforts have had gratifying results in that child restraint use in Mississippi has continued

to rise over time. However, in comparison to other states, child restraint use in Mississippi continues to

be low and proper restraint use probably abysmally low.

PROJECT METHODOLOGY

The current child restraint survey was conducted in 30 Mississippi municipalities at 269

observation sites covering every region in the state of Mississippi. Table 1 provides a list of the

sample cities, the number of unique locations, the total number of observations, percent of

observations with regard to the total number of observations and the populations of the various

cities.

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Table 1: Survey Cities, Number of Locations, Number of Observations

Number Total Number Percent City

of Of of Population
Locations Observations Total Observations
1.Biloxi 8 85 1.2 50,644
2.Brandon 8 164 2.2 16,436
3.Brookhaven 8 95 1.3 9,861
4.Canton 9 181 2.5 12,911
5.Cleveland 8 226 3.1 13,841
6.Clinton 8 162 2.2 23,347
7.Columbus 8 75 1.0 25,944
8.Corinth 8 143 1.9 14,054
9.Gautier 8 195 2.7 11,681
10.Greenwood 8 241 3.3 18,425
11.Grenada 8 200 2.7 14,879
12.Gulfport 8 47 0.6 71,127
13.Hattiesburg 8 150 2.0 44,779
14.Indianola 8 96 1.3 12,066
15.Jackson 29 1,554 21.2 184,256
16.Laurel 8 84 1.1 18,393
17.Madison 8 160 2.2 14,692
18.McComb 8 238 3.2 13,337
19.Meridian 8 200 2.7 39,968
20.Moss Point 7 195 2.7 15,851
21.Natchez 8 213 2.9 18,464
22.Ocean Springs 8 211 2.9 17,225
23.Oxford 8 108 1.5 11756
24.Pascagoula 15 428 5.8 26,200
25.Pearl 9 202 2.8 21,961
26.Ridgeland 8 164 2.2 11,714
27.Southaven 8 213 2.9 20,173
28.Starkville 8 399 5.4 28,977
29.Tupelo 8 420 5.7 34,211
30.Yazoo City 8 500 6.8 14,550
269 7,349 100.0 873,356
.

Due to the size of Jackson, data were collected from 29 sites within the city. Although

21 percent of the observations were made in Jackson, the population of Jackson represents

over 21 percent of the populations of the sample cities. Using the population figures in the

2000 census, 29 of 37 cities with at least a population of 10,000 persons were included in the

survey. One city, Brookhaven, had a population of less than 10,000. Brookhaven’s population

dropped from over 10,000 in the 1990 census to slightly under 10,000 in the 2000 census.

Sample cities are located in every geographical area of the State of Mississippi.

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 An attempt was made to select sites in each city that would provide a cross sample of

the population. A systematic sample was selected by obtaining sites from four different types

of locations: (1) a day care or controlled intersection with a signal light; (2) county or city

health departments, welfare, or social service offices; (3) hospitals or pediatric offices; (4)

shopping centers and fast food establishments.

Where it was feasible, local observers were utilized because they were familiar with

the diversity of people in the area and could determine the most appropriate site locations.

Previous observers were employed when available to promote consistency. Additional

information was collected for each car. These data were the driver’s gender, the time of day,

the day of week, the weather during the time period of the observation, and whether or not the

driver was wearing a seat belt.

Each surveyor was given a checklist for making observations. Locations were

observed for 40-minute periods and surveyors were instructed to skip cars when they were

unsure of the observation. The following instructors were given to the surveyors: (1) record

the use of vehicles only with children as passengers; (2) observe all children under the age of

five. Devices designed to be rear facing are recorded as infant seats. Devices designed to be

forward facing devices are recorded as toddler seats. (3) Correct use of an infant restraint is

determined if the seat installed facing the rear of the vehicle, along with proper use of the

harness system and a compatible vehicular restraint system. (4) Correct use of a toddler seat is

determined if a harness and/or shield apparatus in the forward facing position protects the

toddler. (5) Proper booster seat use is determined when the vehicular restraint system is

correct for the size of the child.

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 RESULTS

There were children in 5,009 cars observed during the survey period. These cars

contained a total of 7,349 children under the age of 5, in 30 municipalities. Our 2002 survey

report indicates that 69% of the children in the survey were restrained

In Table 2, information is provided on the type of location, the number of children

observed and whether they were restrained. It should be noted that none of the locations are

definitive of that type of location, but only provide some indication of the level of use.

Table 2: Child Restraint Use by Type of Location

Not Using Total %

Using Using
238 512 750 68.3
Fast Foods
57 106 163 65.0
Large Shopping Mall
207 291 498 58.4
Grocery Store
292 527 819 64.3
Daycare or Child Learning Center
100 175 275 63.6
Health Department or Human Resources
142 345 487 70.8
Medical Care Complex or Physicians Office
65 389 454 85.7
Playground, Park, Museum or Zoo
346 657 1003 65.5
Small Shopping Center or Wal-Mart
47 52 99 52.5
Discount or Dollar Store
534 1132 1666 67.9
Street Intersection
171 735 906 81.1
Church, Church Nursery
5 14 19 73.7
Service Station
66 125 191 65.4
Restaurant
5 10 15 66.7
Post Office/Banks
2,275 5,070 7,345 69.0

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 In Table 3, the percentage of drivers using seat belts by gender is presented. Of the

drivers observed, 67% of the female drivers were belted while only 55% of the male drivers used

their seat belts. Overall, 63% of the adults observed were belted.

Table 3: Restraint Use of Driver by Gender

Sex of Driver * Is Driver Belted? Crosstabulation

Is Driver Belted?

Yes No Total
Sex of Driver Female Count 2324 1153 3477
% within Sex of Driver 66.8% 33.2% 100.0%
% within Is Driver Belted? 73.6% 63.0% 69.7%
% of Total 46.6% 23.1% 69.7%
Male Count 835 677 1512
% within Sex of Driver 55.2% 44.8% 100.0%
% within Is Driver Belted? 26.4% 37.0% 30.3%
% of Total 16.7% 13.6% 30.3%
Total Count 3159 1830 4989
% within Sex of Driver 63.3% 36.7% 100.0%
% within Is Driver Belted? 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%
% of Total 63.3% 36.7% 100.0%

CHILD RESTRAINT USE BY SEATING POSITION OF CHILD

It is known that the safest place for a child to be restrained, or for that matter to ride

unrestrained, is on the back seat of a car. It would therefore be expected that adults putting

children in the back seat of a car would also have more awareness of the importance of using

child restraints. The seating position, as well as whether the child was restrained, was recorded

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in the present survey. As expected children on the back seat of automobiles were restrained at a

higher rate than were those on the front seat. Children in the back seat were restrained at a rate of

72.4% while children on the front seat were restrained at only a rate of 60.9%

Table 4: Child Restraint by Position of Child

Restrained Not Restrained Total

Seating Position Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent

Front Seat 1266 60.9 813 39.1 2079 28.4

Back Seat 3806 72.4 1448 27.6 5254 71.6

Total 5072 69.2 2261 30.8 7333 100.0

Male drivers were slightly more likely to place a child on the front seat than were female

drivers. Children in cars driven by male drivers were placed on the front seat of the car 32 % of

the time as compared to 27% when the driver of the vehicle was female. However, female

drivers who placed their children on the front seat were much more likely to use child restraints

than were male drives with children on the front seat. Only 54% of the children on the front seat

were restrained when the driver was male, while over 64% of the children in cars driven by

females were restrained. Children placed on the front seat were much more likely to be

unrestrained regardless of the sex of the driver. Interestingly, male and female drivers choosing

to place their children on the back seat were fairly comparable in restraining the children.

Children placed on the back seat were restrained a much higher percentage of time than were

those whose driver placed them on the back seat, regardless of the gender of the driver.

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Obviously educational efforts directed at placing children on back seat have had some effect.

These findings are presented in Table 5.

Table 5: Use of Child Restraints by Position of Child by Gender of Driver

MALE DRIVERS

Using restraint Not using restraint Total

Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent

377 54.4 316 45.6 693 31.7

Front Seat
1039 69.5 457 30.5 1496 68.3
Back Seat
1416 64.7 773 35.3 2189 100.0
Totals
FEMALE DRIVERS

Using restraint Not using restraint Total

Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent

Front Seat 887 64.8 494 35.8 1381 26.9

Back Seat 2758 73.7 986 26.8 3744 73.1

Totals 3645 71.1 1480 28.9 5125 100.0

CONCLUSIONS

Child Restraint Use in Mississippi was found to be 69% for the year 2002. This is almost

identical to the rate found in 2001, showing that child restraint usage is being sustained. In short,

the effort toward increasing and improving child restraint use has been both extensive and

intensive. There is also little doubt that having a primary child restraint law has made a

significant impact on the increase of the use of child restraints in Mississippi. The next challenge

is to raise child restraint usage to an even higher level.

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 References

Braver ER, Whitfield R, Ferguson SA. Seating position and children's risk of dying in motor
vehicle crashes. Injury Prevention 1998;4:181--–7.

CDC.Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System [Online]. (2001). National Center
for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (producer).
Available from: URL: www.cdc.gov/ncipc/wisqars. [1 Jul 2002].

Durbin DR, Kallan NJ, Winston FK. Trends in booster seat use among young children in
crashes. Pediatrics2001;108(6):E109.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation. Buckle

Up America: Child passenger safety week. Washington (DC): NHTSA; 2002 [cited 2002 May
15]. Available from
URLhttp://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/airbags/buckleplan/CPS%20Week%20Planner_file
s/index.html.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation. Fatality

analysis reporting system 2000 [queried 2002 March 1]. Washington (DC): NHTSA; 2001(a)
Available from: URL: http://www.fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/queryReport.cfm.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation. Traffic

Safety Facts 2000:Occupant protection. Washington: NHTSA; 2001(b) [cited 2002 April 1].
Available from: URL:www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/nrd-30/NCSA/TSF2000/2000occfacts.pdf.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation. National

occupant protection usesurvey–1996. Research Note, Aug. 1997. Washington (DC): NHTSA;
1997.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation. Observed

patterns of misuse of child safety seats. Traffic Tech, Sept. 1996. Washington (DC): NHTSA;
1996.

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 Appendix A

Percent of Observations by Day of Week

Sunday
3%
Monday
Saturday
15%
15%

Friday Tuesday

15%
10%

Thursday

12%
W ednesday
29%

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 Appendix B:

TIME OF OBSERVATION

Time of Observation
30

20
19

13
10 11

8
8
7 7
Percent

6 6
5 5 5

0
7

8a

9a

10

11

1p

2p

3p

4p

5p

6p
oo
am

am

am

m
n

TIME

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