TP 2436
Road Safety Leaflet # CL 9804 E
1998

Transport Canada periodically conducts observational surveys to determine the use of child restraints. Children are observed in vehicles stopped at traffic lights and stop signs during daylight hours to determine the type of restraints used for children under 16 years of age.

The fifth national survey of child restraint use was conducted during the week of July 25 to July 31, 1997 at 206 sites across Canada. The data in this leaflet are based on 22,037 observations of children under 16. Except for Table 4 which shows proper use of appropriate restraints, the data presented in the leaflet is weighted according to community population and provincial population.

• Types of restraint used
  • Illustrations of different styles of child restraints
    • Booster seats or cushions
    • Convertible child restraints
    • Infant restraints
• Proper restraint use by province and age
• Proper use of appropriate restraints
• Infant carriers and child seats
• Overall proper use

Types of Restraint Used

Table 1 presents the use and non-use of restraints for each of the various age groups in the survey. The results show that 87.1% of the children observed used seat belts or child restraints, while the remainder were unrestrained. Restraint usage was lowest for the 5-9 year olds (84.6%) and highest for the age group under 1 year (95.7%).

Table 1

*This age group is included so that comparison with 1989 survey results is possible.

Illustrations of Different Styles of Restraints

• Booster seats or cushions
• Convertible child restraints
• Infant restraints

Booster Seats or Cushions

Convertible Child Restraints

Infant restraints

Proper Restraint Use by Province and Age

The survey results presented in Table 2 show the percentages of children in restraints appropriate to their ages, i.e., under 1 year - infant carrier or child seat; 1-2 years - infant carrier or child seat; 3-4 years - child seat; booster seat or seat belt; 5-9 years - booster seat or seat belt; 10-15 years - seat belt.

Across Canada, 85.6% of children surveyed were using appropriate types of restraints. The youngest age group (under 1 year) turned in the highest percentage (95.3%) and the 5-9 year olds the lowest (83.4%). For all age groups combined, the provincial totals ranged from 82.1% in Newfoundland to 90.2% in Nova Scotia.

Table 2

Proper Use of Appropriate Restraints

Table 3 shows proper use of appropriate restraints for children under 16. Proper use is determined according to the criteria for each of the restraint types. An infant carrier is considered to be properly used only if the harness is in use, the vehicle belt is used to restrain the carrier to the vehicle (for infant-only seats) and the carrier is installed facing the rear of the vehicle. A child seat is considered to be properly used only if the harness is in use, the child seat is secured with the vehicle seat belt and tether strap is used. A booster seat is considered to be properly used if the vehicle seat belt is used to secure the seat. If a 3-4 year old child is secured by a vehicle seat belt, then he/she is considered to be properly secured. If any one of the required criteria is not observed, it is excluded from the data analysis. The estimated proper use for children under 5 years of age was 76.1% in 1997, an increase of 18% from 1989.

Table 3

Infant Carriers and Child Seats

Table 4 provides the percentage of correct and incorrect use of infant and child restraints. In 70.1% of the cases, the infant carriers were correctly used in all respects. However, in 25% of the cases, the infant carriers were incorrectly installed in a forward-facing position in the vehicle.

In 66.5% of the cases, the child seats were correctly used. The most common error (32.8% of the cases) was the failure to install the tether strap which is required in order to limit the forward movement of the seat in a collision.

Table 4

Overall Proper Use

Table 5 shows the estimated overall proper use of child restraints, taking into account both correct installation and harness use. The overall proper use of child restraints increased from 40.8% in 1989 to 67.7% in 1997. Table 5 also shows that the overall proper use for children under 16 years of age was 79.9%, an increase of 28.9% from the 51.0% recorded in 1989.

Table 5