Child Passenger Safety: What Texas Health Steps Providers Need to Know

Passenger Safety for Children and Adolescents: Overview

mother placing child in car seat

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death and injury for children 4 years and older, adolescents, and young adults (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2019).

Fortunately, many deaths can be prevented. Today’s vehicles can better withstand crashes with minimal injury to occupants, and use of child restraint systems is growing (AAP, 2018). Those factors are keeping more children alive and uninjured. The number of children ages 14 years and younger killed in traffic crashes fell by 15 percent from 2008 (1,350 killed) to 2017 (1,147 killed), according to a 2019 report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

Still, too many children are killed or injured in crashes:

  • In 2017, 3.4 percent of motor vehicle fatalities in Texas were children (NHTSA, 2019).
  • Nearly 1,000 children ages 15 years and younger die in motor vehicle crashes in the U.S. each year (AAP, 2018).
  • 3 children, on average, were killed every day in motor vehicle crashes in 2017 (NHTSA, 2019).
  • 37 percent of children killed in motor vehicle crashes were not restrained for safety (NHTSA, 2019).
  • Tens of thousands more are injured. Nearly 116,000 children ages 12 years and younger were injured in 2017 alone (CDC, 2019).