Motor Vehicle Safety--Injury and Incidence Statistics

Injury and death rates:

• Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of unintentional injury-related death among children ages 14 and under.
• Each year, over 2,400 children ages 0 to 15 years die in vehicle-related deaths.
• Fifty percent of children ages 14 and under killed in motor vehicle crashes were not safely restrained.
• The majority of the children killed by airbags in motor vehicle crashes were unrestrained or improperly restrained.

Safety restraint statistics:

• About 73 percent of child safety seats or booster seats are improperly used.
• Properly installed and used child safety seats can reduce the risk of death by 71 percent for infants and 54 percent for children ages 1 to 4.

Pedestrian statistics:

• Pedestrian injury is the second leading cause of unintentional injury-related death among children ages five to 14.
• Children ages one to two suffer the highest number of pedestrian injuries, most often when a vehicle is backing up.

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Online Resources of Safety & Injury Prevention