Children Safer in Back Seat, Study Confirms
Children riding in a car's back seat in a proper restraint system are better protected in the event of an accident, new research confirms.
An analysis of 370,000 insurance claims found that child safety seats used in a car's rear seat would have prevented more than 1,000 of 3,665 serious injuries to children under age 16, the Associated Press reported. The research was sponsored by The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the State Farm Insurance Co.
Children were 40 percent safer in the rear seat than in the front, and their risk of injury fell below 2 percent when safety seats and seat belts were used. The report concluded that almost a third of the 1,800 children who died in car accidents in 2003 were riding in the front seat, and more than half weren't restrained.
The researchers said that too often, parents gave in to children who had outgrown safety seats and wanted to ride up front, the wire service reported.
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