Child passenger safety

Enact booster seat legislation in all provinces and territories; increase education and enforcement.

Issue - Child passenger safety

Motor vehicle injuries are a leading cause of injury-related death for Canadian children. Action must be taken to reduce the risk of crashes. Steps must also be taken to reduce the risk of injury when a crash occurs.

Problem - Low booster seat use

Car crashes kill more children than any other cause of injury in Canada. What amounts to over two classrooms of children die in cars each year, and thousands more are injured.

Solution - Mandatory booster seat use

When installed correctly, putting a child in a car seat reduces the chances of injury or death by as much as 75 per cent and booster seats provide up to 60 per cent more protection than seat belts alone. Children must be in the correct car seat for their stage of physical development in order to be protected.  

While at least 75 per cent of young children are restrained in car seats, according to Transport Canada research shows that nearly three-quarters of Canadian children between ages four to nine are not protected by booster seats.  

Car seats can reduce the risk of death by 71 per cent for infants under age one and 54 per cent for children by ages one to four.

Car seats reduce the risk of hospitalization by 67 per cent for children age four and under.

Currently, seven provinces require booster seat use.  Car seat laws in Canada.

Call to action

Enact booster seat legislation in all provinces and territories that do not currently have it in place, including Alberta, Saskatchewan, Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut.  Education, enforcement and increased government investment in child passenger safety, are also needed to make Canada’s roads the safest possible for children and youth.

Investing in research related to the design and use of car seats; making child restraint safety a priority in preventative care, and having health professionals assess child restraint use as part of patient visits, are strategies that can be implemented in order to increase the level of children’s safety on Canada’s roads.      

What You Can Do

Show your support for booster seat legislation by sending a letter to your local MPP or MLA and the Minister of Transportation in your province or territory!

All-ages template letters

• Alberta (doc)
• Northwest Territories (doc)
• Nunavut (doc)
• Saskatchewan (doc)
• Yukon (doc)

Road safety measures
Speed Reduction:

Issue

Children are more likely to be struck by a car in areas with higher speed limits.

Problem

There is a direct correlation between an increase in vehicle speeds and the increase of the risk of injury. A pedestrian struck by a car traveling at 50 km/hr is eight times more likely to be killed than a pedestrian struck at 30 km/hr.

Solution

Even small reductions in speed can be significant. For each 1.6 km/hr reduction in average speed, collision frequency is reduced by five per cent. Reducing vehicle speed has been proven to be effective in preventing crashes and reducing the severity of injuries.

Environmental or physical characteristics can either encourage or discourage speeding and can greatly influence the frequency and severity of pedestrian-related crashes.  Traffic calming measures can include implementing physical changes such as speed bumps, road narrowing, pedestrian islands or curb extensions.  Advocating for changes to speed limits and initiating strategies to target driver behavior are also effective.  

All these approaches help to create a new awareness of the impact of speed, the importance of being mindful of pedestrians, and being conscious of one’s own driving habits.

Tools and resources

For more information on child passenger safety and advocacy please see:

• Safe Kids Canada 2011 car seat legislative update presentation
• Give your kid a boost ! - Facts about car seat safety (pdf)
• Car seat safety 
• Transport Canada - Regulations amending the motor vehicle restraint systems and booster cushions safety regulations.
• The Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators (CCMTA) / The National Occupant Restraint Program (NORP)
• The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
• NORP Model Legislation
• The UN tackles road safety – “Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020" 
• Car seat guide (all stages)
• Booster seat and seat belt

Published: Fri, May 4, 2012