Increasing the safety of children's vehicle travel: from effective risk communication to behavior change.
BACKGROUND
When installed and used correctly, child safety seats reduce the risk of fatal injury by 71% for infants and 54% for toddlers. However, four out of five safety seats are unintentionally misused. Yet, parents fail to participate in safety-seat checks and other child seat interventions aimed at correcting misuse.


METHODS
Such lack of participation is the focus of this article, which argues that most caregivers are naïve to their own vulnerability for misusing their child's seat. Research on risk perception is discussed as a guide to understanding both the high misuse rate and the lack of participation in interventions designed to correct this public safety problem.
A comprehensive intervention plan that incorporates risk communication techniques for maximum parental participation is proposed that includes three essential components: (a) establishing community locations for parents to turn for safety seat advice, (b) making these locations well known to the public, and (c) increasing caregivers' perceptions of risk of misusing their children's seats.
Center for Pediatric Research, The Children's Hospital for the King's Daughters and Eastern Virginia Medical School, 855 West Brambleton Avenue, Norfolk, VA 23510-1001, USA. willke@chkd.org
Kelli England
KE
Will
E Scott
ES
Geller
D001521:Behavior Therapy; D002648:Child; D003142:Communication; D006801:Humans; D015370:Infant Equipment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009042:Motivation; D018986:Motor Vehicles; D010290:Parents; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012449:Safety; D014481:United States; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000517:prevention & control