Interventions to reduce road traffic injuries: increasing child restraint use
Situation and trends
Legislation mandating the use of child restraints can be an effective way to increase the use of restraints and reduce injuries. While 96 countries have a child restraint law of some type, only 85 countries base this law on age, weight or height - an important factor in achieving effectiveness. Most high-income countries have such a law while only a third of low- and middle-income countries base their child restraint law on one or more of these criteria.
Two criteria were considered necessary to meet best practice on child restraint legislation: the existence of a law that applies an age, weight or height restriction on children sitting in the front seat, and a national child restraint law based on age, height or weight. Only 53 countries meet both these criteria, representing just 17% of the world’s population.