Persons using assistive technology might not be able to fully access information in this file. For assistance, please send e-mail to: mmwrq@cdc.gov. Type 508 Accommodation and the title of the report in the subject line of e-mail.
Notice to Readers: National Child Passenger Safety Week, February
12--18, 2006
In 2004, a total of 424 children aged 4--8 years died and more than 70,000 were treated in emergency departments
for injuries sustained in motor vehicle crashes in the United States
(1,2). The National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration (NHTSA) and CDC recommend the use of booster seats for children who weigh at least 40 pounds, are less than 4 feet
9 inches tall, and are aged 4--8 years (3). This year, National Child Passenger Safety Week, February 12--18, 2006, will
focus on booster seat use.
Despite increased attention and legislation governing booster seats, use of age-appropriate child restraints by passengers
aged 4--8 years continues to lag behind use by younger passengers. Although child safety seat use is greater than 90% for
infants and toddlers, booster seat use is estimated nationally at 10%--20%
(3). Thirty-three states have enacted laws governing
booster seat use, but only two states, Tennessee and Wyoming, have laws covering children through age 8 years.
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) web-based encyclopedia. Available at
http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov.
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Improving the safety of older-child passengers: a progress report on reducing deaths and
injuries among 4- to 8-year-old child passengers. Washington, DC: US Department of Transportation; 2005.
Use of trade names and commercial sources is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services.References to non-CDC sites on the Internet are
provided as a service to MMWR readers and do not constitute or imply
endorsement of these organizations or their programs by CDC or the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services. CDC is not responsible for the content
of pages found at these sites. URL addresses listed in MMWR were current as of
the date of publication.
Disclaimer
All MMWR HTML versions of articles are electronic conversions from ASCII text
into HTML. This conversion may have resulted in character translation or format errors in the HTML version.
Users should not rely on this HTML document, but are referred to the electronic PDF version and/or
the original MMWR paper copy for the official text, figures, and tables.
An original paper copy of this issue can be obtained from the Superintendent of Documents,
U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO), Washington, DC 20402-9371; telephone: (202) 512-1800.
Contact GPO for current prices.
**Questions or messages regarding errors in formatting should be addressed to
mmwrq@cdc.gov.
