“We know that booster seats reduce injuries to children, and that laws increase their use," said Alison Macpherson, an assistant professor in York’s School of Kinesiology and Health Science. “What this study shows is that laws requiring booster seats reduce child deaths in fatal crashes – crashes in which someone dies.”

 “Booster seat laws and child fatalities: a case-control study” appears in the October 2009 issue of the journal Injury Prevention. Former York U graduate student Pamela Farmer led the study, under the supervision of Macpherson, with co-principal investigator Dr. Andrew Howard, a staff orthopaedic surgeon, scientist at SickKids and associate professor in the departments of Surgery and Health Policy at the University of Toronto.

The study sample included 14,571 children, aged 4 to 8 years, who were involved in fatal motor vehicle collisions in the U.S. between 1995 and 2005. Of the 14,571 children who were involved in these head-on crashes, 1,835 children died (12.6 per cent).

By February 2007, 38 states and the District of Columbia had enacted booster seat laws. The study by York University and SickKids shows this type of legislation is an effective way to decrease child fatalities and increase correct restraint use.

“Our study found that booster seats reduce deaths by about 20 per cent,” said Howard, medical director of the Trauma Program at SickKids. “However, this may be a conservative estimate of the benefits because we looked only at crashes in which someone is killed. It did not include children who were in booster seats in accidents – some of them serious − in which no one was killed.”

Farmer’s analysis of the U.S. statistics found that children in states with booster seat laws are much more likely to be restrained in either a seat belt or a booster seat.

“We also found that in states with the laws, children aged 4 to 8 are much more likely to be restrained in age-appropriate booster seats,” said Farmer, “and booster seats were more protective than seat belts alone.”

York University is the leading interdisciplinary research and teaching university in Canada. York offers a modern, academic experience at the undergraduate and graduate level in Toronto, Canada’s most international city. The third largest university in the country, York is host to a dynamic academic community of 50,000 students and 7,000 faculty and staff, as well as 200,000 alumni worldwide. York’s 10 Faculties and 28 research centres conduct ambitious, groundbreaking research that is interdisciplinary, cutting across traditional academic boundaries. This distinctive and collaborative approach is preparing students for the future and bringing fresh insights and solutions to real-world challenges. York University is an autonomous, not-for-profit corporation.

The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), affiliated with the University of Toronto, is Canada’s most research-intensive hospital and the largest centre dedicated to improving children’s health in the country. As innovators in child health, SickKids improves the health of children by integrating care, research and teaching. Our mission is to provide the best in complex and specialized care by creating scientific and clinical advancements, sharing our knowledge and expertise and championing the development of an accessible, comprehensive and sustainable child health system. For more information, please visit www.sickkids.ca. SickKids is committed to healthier children for a better world.

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Media contacts:

Janice Walls, Media Relations, York University, 416 736 2100 x22101 / wallsj@yorku.ca