 Introduction
Throughout the United States, innumerable individuals and organizations
have worked to promote motor vehicle occupant protection for children,
youth, and young adults, ages 16 to 20.* In
spite of the great strides made, thousands of young people, from
newborns through age 20, continue to die or experience serious injuries
that could have been prevented had they been properly restrained
in a child safety seat, booster seat, or safety belt.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has
developed this booklet to provide information supporting the ongoing
need for legislative, enforcement, education, and public awareness
activities promoting occupant protection for children, youth, and
young adults ages 16 to 20. Collectively, this information illustrates
the national imperative for addressing motor vehicle crashes as
the leading cause of death and injury for children and youth in
the United States.
As a resource for occupant protection advocates, this booklet focuses
on passenger vehicles. The majority of data in this fact book is
from 2002, which was the latest year available when it went to press.1,
2 This booklet also includes data
from NHTSA’s 2003 Motor Vehicle Occupant Safety Survey
(MVOSS).
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The National Scope of Motor Vehicle Crashes
In 2002, police filed reports on an estimated 6.3 million traffic
crashes. The police reports indicated that approximately 2.9 million
people were injured, 42,815 people were killed, and property damage
was sustained in an estimated 4.3 million of these crashes.
The economic cost of motor vehicle crashes (police-reported and
nonreported crashes) that occurred in 2000 totaled $230.6 billion.3
When vehicle occupants did not wear safety belts, the potential
costs increased because unbelted crash victims sustained more severe
injuries and more fatalities than belted crash victims. Belted crash
victims average 60 to 80 percent lower hospital costs than unbelted
crash victims.
In 2002, a total of 17,651 (54 percent) of passenger vehicle occupants
who were killed in a crash were reported not to have used a safety
belt or child safety seat. Chart 1 compares
the percentage of fatally injured occupants who were restrained,
to those who were unrestrained, in passenger vehicle crashes.4
Chart 1 Occupant
Fatalities in 2002
By Age and Restraint Use, In Passenger Vehicles
 d
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How To Use This Occupant Protection Booklet
The facts contained in this booklet can be used to develop speeches
and presentation materials, public information and education materials,
backgrounders and news releases for the media, and to promote the
use of occupant restraints in conjunction with law enforcement officials.
Black-and-white duplicates of many of the charts are included in
the back pocket of the original booklet for use as overheads or
to support materials developed for local and State use. States and
local communities have an important role to play in creating a national
norm that makes it unacceptable to ride unrestrained in a motor
vehicle. Our goal must be to make occupant restraint use a lifelong
habit for all citizens.
The booklet is divided into three main sections. The first section
presents general information on the need for and importance of promoting
occupant restraint use for children, youth, and young adults ages
16 to 20. Most of the data and discussion in the document refer
to these groups according to the following ages:
Children: newborns through 3 years of age and 4 through
7 years of age Youth: 8 through 15 years of age (15-year-olds, however,
are sometimes included as young drivers.) Young adults: 16 through 20 years of age
 The
next section provides occupant protection facts specific to children
and youth, followed by facts for young adults. The last section
includes survey findings from NHTSA’s 2003 Motor Vehicle
Occupant Safety Survey on self-reported behavior, attitudes,
and opinions about safety belt use and laws. This biennial telephone
survey measures consumers’ attitudes and opinions about occupant
protection.
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Important Definitions
 As
you review the data that follow, keep in mind the following definitions:
Crash: An event that produces injury and/or property damage,
involves a motor vehicle in transport, and occurs on a roadway or
while the vehicle is still in motion after running off the roadway.
Fatal Crash: A police-reported crash involving a motor
vehicle in transport on a roadway in which at least one person dies
within 30 days of the crash. (This includes the deaths of individuals
who were not in a motor vehicle, such as pedestrians and bicyclists.)
 Injury
Crash: A police-reported crash involving a motor vehicle in
transport on a roadway in which no one died but at least one person
was reported to have (1) an incapacitating injury, (2) a visible
but not incapacitating injury, (3) a possible but not visible injury,
or (4) an injury of unknown severity.
Passenger Vehicles: Motor vehicles used for carrying passengers,
including all passenger cars, SUVs, light trucks, and vans (including
15-passenger vans). Light trucks (under 10,000 lbs.) also include
truck-based station wagons. Motorcyclists, buses, and large trucks
are not included in this category.
*Children, youth, and young adults within the
age range of 0-20 years old are included in this booklet. When describing
the age categories, the phrases "to" or "through"
or the use of a dash (-) are used interchangeably and are equivalent
in meaning. In all cases, both the lower and upper age are included
in the category (i.e., 4 to 7, 4 through 7, and 4-7 all represent
children of ages 4, 5, 6 and 7).
1Unless otherwise noted, the data in this fact
book were generated from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System
and the General Estimates System by the National Center for Statistics
and Analysis at NHTSA.
2Data on the number of licensed drivers includes
15-year-olds.
3The Economic Impact of Motor Vehicle Crashes
2000.
4For charts broken down by age in this fact
book, persons of unknown age are not included.
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