Child Passenger Injury Risk in Sibling Versus Non-Sibling Teen Driver Crashes: A US Study

Several U.S. states and New Zealand include passenger restrictions in their graduated driver licensing laws that allow exemptions for family members as passengers. This study examines differences in injury risk to U.S. child passengers in crashes involving sibling versus non-sibling teen drivers, and compares outcomes with crashes involving adult drivers. Insurance claim and telephone survey data were collected on 16,233 child passengers (representing 289,329 children) in 17 U.S. jurisdictions. Results showed that there was a trend toward higher restraint use by child passengers in the sibling group versus the non-sibling group. Although children in the sibling group had a 40% lower risk of injury than those in the non-sibling group, injury risk was higher in the sibling group than in children traveling with adults. Child passengers riding with sibling teen drivers may be safer than those riding with non-sibling teens, but not as safe as those riding with adult drivers. These findings provided some support, with caution, for family exemptions to graduated driver licensing laws.

• Record URL:
  • http://injuryprevention.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/13/3/207
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/13538047
• Authors:
  • Senserrick, Teresa M
  • Kallan, Michael J
  • Winston, Flaura K
• Publication Date: 2007-6

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 207-210
• Serial:
  • Injury Prevention
  • Volume: 13
  • Issue Number: 3
  • Publisher: BMJ Publishing Group
  • ISSN: 1353-8047
  • EISSN: 1475-5785
  • Serial URL: http://injuryprevention.bmj.com/

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Child restraint systems; Children; Crash injuries; Families; Graduated licensing; Insurance claims; Laws; Passengers; Surveys; Teenage drivers; Traffic crashes
• Uncontrolled Terms: Passenger restrictions; Siblings
• Geographic Terms: United States
• Subject Areas: Highways; Law; Passenger Transportation; Safety and Human Factors; Society; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor; I84: Personal Injuries;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01055230
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Aug 23 2007 1:00PM