Seatbelts and the law : how well do we protect Australian children ?
About a thousand Australian children are seriously injured in motor vehicle accidents each year, despite 92% using seatbelts or child restraints. Premature graduation of children to adult seatbelts, misuse of seatbelts and use of lap-only belts increase the risk of injury or death. In Australia, use of a child restraint or booster seat is not mandatory for children aged > 1 year, while other countries mandate their use for children up to 5-12 years old. Australian parents are confused about the safest restraint and seating position, particularly for children aged > 2 years. Australian child restraint legislation needs to be reviewed to increase the rate of optimal restraint use. Language: en
XI 1: Introduction 1 1.1 Background 1 1.1.1 Childhood injuries – the New Zealand context 3 1.2 Statement of the Problem 3 1.3 Statement of Purpose 5 1.3.1 The context for the study 5 1.3.2 State research question 6 1.3.3 Study aims 6 1.4 Significance of Research 7 1.4.1 Potential benefits to childhood research 7 1.4.2 Study delimitations 8 1.5 Thesis Structure Chapter Overview 9 2: Literature Review 11 2.