title: Traffic Safety Facts - Research Note: Additional Analysis of National Child Restraint Use Special Study: Characteristics of Those Not Restrained
title: Additional Analysis of National Child Restraint Use Special Study: Characteristics of Those Not Restrained
titleType: AlternativeTitle
Creators: name: Raymond, Paula D.
name: Searcy, Sarah
name: Findley, Daniel
name: Miller, S.
name: Redden, C.
name: United States. Office of Impaired Driving and Occupant Protection
name: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Publisher: name: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
publisherIdentifier: https://ror.org/04gcfqs37
publisherIdentifierScheme: ROR
Year: 2018
Subjects: classificationCode: https://trt.trb.org/term/89717
subject: Analysis
classificationCode: https://trt.trb.org/term/94331
subject: Anchors (Structural connectors)
classificationCode: https://trt.trb.org/term/93823
subject: Child restraint systems
classificationCode: https://trt.trb.org/term/91739
subject: Drivers
classificationCode: https://trt.trb.org/term/90207
subject: Installation
classificationCode: https://trt.trb.org/term/96318
subject: Motion

description: The National Child Restraint Use Special Study (NCRUSS) recorded the use of car seats and belt-positioning booster seats in children up to 8 years old in 4,167 vehicles. Observers approached vehicles that carried at least one child. They interviewed the driver and collected detailed information on the restraint status of one child per vehicle, the vehicle, and its driver. This report describes the examination of unrestrained drivers, drivers who report having ever driven with unrestrained children, and drivers transporting unrestrained children. Of the drivers in the NCRUSS sample, 129 were unrestrained. Unrestrained drivers were more likely to be black than white. Unrestrained drivers did not differ in their gender, age, or Hispanic background. Drivers reported whether they had ever driven with unrestrained children, and gave the reasons they had done so. Of the sampled drivers, 725 had driven with unrestrained children. 51 percent said that a "short trip" was the reason. The predominance of this reason suggests that efforts should continue to target the misperception that short trips are low in risk. Hispanic drivers were more likely to have driven with unrestrained children than non-Hispanic drivers, and black drivers were more likely than either white or Asian drivers to have driven with unrestrained children. Age and sex were unrelated to the history of driving with unrestrained children. Of the children sampled, 112 were observed to be unrestrained in the vehicles at the time of the survey. These children were more likely to be Hispanic than non-Hispanic, and more likely to be Black than White. Unrestrained children were more likely than restrained children to ride in the front seats, were more likely to ride with unrestrained drivers, and were more likely to be in vehicles with four or more occupants. The drivers of unrestrained children were more likely than drivers of restrained children to be Hispanic than non-Hispanic, more likely to be Black than White, and were more likely to report using no information sources regarding child safety seats.