Motor Vehicle Safety--Injury and Incidence Statistics

Injury and death rates

• Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of unintentional injury-related death among children ages 14 and under.

• Each year, over 2,400 children ages 0 to 15 years die in vehicle-related deaths.

• Fifty percent of children ages 14 and under killed in motor vehicle crashes were not safely restrained.

• The majority of the children killed by airbags in motor vehicle crashes were unrestrained or improperly restrained.

Safety restraint statistics

• About 73 percent of child safety seats or booster seats are improperly used.

• Properly installed and used child safety seats can reduce the risk of death by 71 percent for infants and 54 percent for children ages 1 to 4.

Pedestrian statistics

• Pedestrian injury is the second leading cause of unintentional injury-related death among children ages five to 14.

• Children ages one to two suffer the highest number of pedestrian injuries, most often when a vehicle is backing up.