Poor compliance with child safety restraint use while travelling.

Abstract

Road traffic accidents are a leading cause of death of children. It is the law that all children should be appropriately secured when traveling in vehicles. The aim of this study was to evaluate parental conformity with these regulations and to test if advice given at a Paediatric outpatient clinic could improve compliance. Two groups were assigned, an intervention group (parents given an information leaflet and a clear explanation about appropriate restraints for their children) and a non-intervention group (received no information). They were contacted again after 2 months and asked regarding compliance. A total of 394 children from 186 families were initially given the questionnaire. Nearly one third of children (29.2%) were not using any restraint while travelling rising to 35.3% on follow up. This study concluded that once off parental education made negligible difference to an already inconsistent and haphazard approach to compliance with safety regulations.