INFANT CARRIERS - A TRIAL IN TWO COUNTIES

In Blekinge (a county of Sweden) the county council allocated infant carriers to all parents. The county council of Kalmar did not. The aim of this study was to compare these two counties regarding transportation of infants in cars and to investigate if and how the children in Blekinge used their infant carriers. Furthermore, the intention was to investigate long-term effects, e.g., whether parents were inclined to procure a child seat when the child had reached the age of 9 months. All parents answered two questionnaires, one when the child was 6 and the other when it was 18 months old. These questionnaires show that the number of children using infant carriers increased significantly for children included in the infant carrier loan scheme compared to those who had to buy their own seats. It is more difficult, however, to find any long-term effects, i.e., different behaviour and attitudes among those who were offered infant carriers and those who were not. More than 90% of all parents procure child seats when their children are about 9 months old. Their attitudes towards safety and their level of observation as to children's traffic safety matters do not differ significantly. One possible explanation of the fact that there are no or very few long-term effects could be that the level of awareness of traffic safety was raised by this study and also by contemporaneous campaigns, such as the use of seat belts in the rear seat. The general use of infant carriers in Sweden has increased from 10% to 80% during this study (1984-1986). From a children's traffic safety point of view, these effects are very positive.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/03476030
• Corporate Authors:

  Swedish National Road and Traffic Research Institute

  Drottning Kristinas Vaeg 25
  S-11428 Stockholm,   Sweden 
• Authors:
  • JARMARK, S
  • Ljungblom, B-A
  • Turbell, T
• Publication Date: 1988

Media Info

• Features: Appendices; Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 111 p.
• Serial:
  • VTI Rapport
  • Publisher: Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI)
  • ISSN: 0347-6030

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Attitudes; Awareness; Behavior; Child restraint systems; Data collection; Infants; Measures of effectiveness; Parents; Questionnaires; Surveys; Traffic safety; Utilization
• Uncontrolled Terms: Effectiveness
• Geographic Terms: Sweden
• Subject Areas: Highways; Research; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00490078
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
• Report/Paper Numbers: VTI Report 316A, HS-040 518
• Files: HSL, TRIS, USDOT
• Created Date: Dec 31 1989 12:00AM