A Survey of Drivers' Child Restraint Choice and Knowledge in South Australia

This study investigated child choices in a sample of 357 drivers in the Adelaide metropolitan area who were transporting 586 children under the age of 10 to school. The main survey result was that the rate of appropriate restraint was between 64% and 72% of these trips (according to the weight criteria in the Australian and New Zealand Standard on child restraints for motor vehicles). Only 1% of the children are completely unrestrained and most of these children had prematurely progressed to an adult seatbelt. Appropriate child restraint use was lowest in children in the age range of 5 to 7 years of age. Inappropriate restraint choice is related to the child’s age, seating location, and the child’s entry into primary school. Female drivers were more likely than male drivers to know what restraints were appropriate for the children in their vehicles. However, it did not appear to be the case that good knowledge of child restraints is predictive of appropriate restraint use. Barriers to booster seat use included the child’s attitude of using a booster seat. This effect may be lessened if the child’s age were able to be used to guide restraint selection, as peer cues would than be more consistent. Drivers almost never mentioned cost as a barrier to child restraint use. Encouraging parents to become better informed may also help, but recommendations should also be reviewed. Further development of the Australian and New Zealand Standard for child restraints may enable age to be used as a criterion and simplify the advise to parents on child restraint.