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 under 14 years of age 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 injury is the second leading cause of unintentional injury-related death among children ages 5 to 14.
Children ages 1 to 2 suffer the highest number of pedestrian injuries, most often when a vehicle is backing up.