There are few studies on
the travel safety of child passenger in China. The study aims to describe the seating
position and restraint practice of child passenger in China’s first-tier cities. The
travel information on the children enrolled in 10 early education institutions,
15 kindergartens and 10 primary schools was randomly selected in
Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chongqing and Jinan in recent years. A total of 4900 parents
were surveyed to collect children’s travel information and 3556 valid
questionnaires were taken back. The adjusted rate ratios for optimal seating
position (rear-seated alone) versus suboptimal seating position and restraint
use versus non-use of restraints among child passengers were analyzed and
evaluated using multivariate binomial regression. Through the survey, it is
found that the suboptimal seating position (31.2%) and non-use of restraints
(45.4%) were common among child passengers. Younger age (≤8 years old) is an
unfavorable factor resulting in seating in rear seats by child passengers; and
the higher the driver’s degree of education, the higher the family income and
the more understanding about car seat is, the bigger likelihood of being
rear-seated alone by child passengers is. Younger age (≤8 years old) is also an
unfavorable factor resulting in restraint use by child passengers; and the more
understanding about car seat, the more concern on the relevant legislative
information and the more knowledge about defective car seat recall have by
parents, the bigger likelihood of using restraints for their children during
travel. This study suggests that restraint non-use and suboptimal seating
position are still common among child passengers in China’s first-tier cities
and also identifies the factors influencing restraint use and seating position
choice for child passengers. There is an urgent need to improve child passenger
safety in China. At the same time, it is also necessary to strengthen the publicity
about child passenger’s safety before the relevant laws and regulations are
promulgated.
Cite this paper
Liu, K. (2018). The Exploration of Factors That Affect Travel Safety of Child Passengers. Open Access Library Journal, 5, e4574. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/oalib.1104574.
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