Motor vehicle safety

Many parents are nervous traveling with children in cars, especially infants. Yet by taking proper precautionary measures, such as the proper use of age-appropriate child safety seats, most unintentional child injuries and deaths can be prevented.

How Boston Children's Hospital approaches Motor vehicle safety and children

The Injury Prevention Program at Children's is committed to decreasing the incidence of pediatric injuries, including those incurred in motor vehicles, through community-based education efforts, distributing safety materials and conducting research into what works best.

Car seat program by the numbers:

Children's car seat program is expanding hours of coverage and additional staff to inspect and install car seats. The pilot program began in 2009.

• 1,928: patients have been assessed for car seat needs
• 1: the rank of automobile accidents as a cause of death in children ages 1 to 14 years
• 49: children under 49 inches tall are required to ride in a car seat, according to Massachusetts law
• 200: car seats have been distributed by the program so far