2006 Mississippi

Child Restraint Survey

Prepared for:
The Office of Highway Safety
Division of Public Safety Planning,
Mississippi Department of Public Safety

December 2006

Prepared by:
David R. Parrish
James W. Landrum
Jean A. Mann
Sarah Coleman Wiggins
Lora Bingham
Dean Ladner

SSRC
Social Science Research Center
Mississippi State University
 FINAL REPORT
2006 MISSISSIPPI CHILD RESTRAINT SURVEY

Prepared for:

The Office of Highway Safety,

Division of Public Safety Planning,
Mississippi Department of Public Safety
December 2006

Prepared By:

David R. Parrish
James W. Landrum
Jean A. Mann
Sarah Coleman Wiggins
Lora Bingham
Dean Ladner

Social Science Research Center

Mississippi State University
Mississippi State, MS 39762
 INTRODUCTION

Highway safety continues to be a major health problem for children in Mississippi. Each
year citizens, governmental agencies and private advocacy groups participate in a major
effort to combat this needless death and injury to our children. Tickets are written to
those who violate the child restraint law. Large numbers of child restraint clinics staffed
by highly trained child restraint technicians are provided at no cost to the public. A
sizable amount of time, effort and money are devoted to increasing child restraint use.
These efforts included media campaigns, brochures, programs, providing free child
restraint seats to those who cannot
afford them, etc. In order to help
evaluate the effect of these
programs, child restraint surveys are
conducted in cities in every
geographical area of Mississippi
(See Figure 1). The surveys are not
truly scientific, but do provide an
overall raw analysis on child
restraint use in Mississippi. Since
these surveys are only observational
they do not provide a measure of
the proper use of child restraints,
except in a very general way; i.e.,
incorrectly placing children in rear-
facing seats on the front seat, in
front of airbags.

These efforts have had gratifying

results in that child restraint use in
Mississippi has continued to rise
over time. However, in comparison
to other states, child restraint use in
Mississippi continues to be low and
proper restraint use even lower.

Figure 1: Surveyed city locations in

Mississippi shows observational surveys
conducted in every portion of the state

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 SURVEY METHODOLOGY

The current child restraint survey was conducted in 33 Mississippi municipalities, at 283
observation sites, covering every region in the state of Mississippi. Table 1 provides a
list of the sample cities, the number of unique locations, the total number of observations,
percent of observations with regard to the total number of observations, and the
populations of the various cities.

Table 1: Survey Cities, Number of Locations, Number of Observations

Number Total Number Percent City
City of of of Population
Locations Observations Total Observations (2005 Estimates*)
1. Biloxi 8 74 1.7 50,209
2. Brandon 9 172 4.0 19,390
3. Brookhaven 7 90 2.1 9,907
4. Canton 8 144 3.4 12,507
5. Cleveland 8 93 2.2 12,818
6. Clinton 8 135 3.2 26,017
7. Columbus 8 60 1.4 24,425
8. Corinth 8 125 2.9 14,256
9. Gautier 8 91 2.1 16,846
10.Greenville 8 51 1.2 38,724
11.Greenwood 8 92 2.2 17,344
12.Grenada 8 151 3.5 14,569
13.Gulfport 8 116 2.7 72,464
14.Hattiesburg 8 89 2.1 47,176
15.Indianola 8 113 2.7 11,321
16.Jackson 27 606 14.2 177,977
17.Laurel 8 45 1.1 18,298
18.Long Beach 8 126 3.0 17,283
19.Madison 8 170 4.0 16,737
20.McComb 8 211 5.0 13,244
21.Meridian 8 61 1.4 38,605
22.Moss Point 8 97 2.3 15,125
23.Natchez 8 126 3.0 16,966
24.Ocean Springs 8 96 2.3 17,783
25.Oxford 8 68 1.6 13,618
26.Pascagoula 8 113 2.7 25,173
27.Pearl 8 150 3.5 23,111
28.Ridgeland 8 145 3.4 21,236
29.Southaven 8 192 4.5 38,840
30.Starkville 8 103 2.4 22,131
31.Tupelo 8 51 1.2 35,673
32. Vicksburg 8 122 2.9 25,752
33.Yazoo City 8 183 4.3 11,879
Totals 283 4,261 100 937,404
* July 1, 2005 city population estimates retrieved from U.S. Census Bureau at www.census.gov

Due to the size of Jackson, data were collected from 27 sites within the city. Although
14.2 percent of the observations were made in Jackson, the population of Jackson
represents about 19 percent of the population of the sample cities. Using the population

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figures from 2005 Census estimates, 32 of 38 cities with at least a population of 10,000
persons were included in the survey. One city, Brookhaven, had a population of less than
10,000. Brookhaven was kept in the study due to its history of being in the study.
Sample cities are located in every geographical area of the State of Mississippi.

An attempt was made to select sites in each city that would provide a cross sample of the
population. A systematic sample was selected by obtaining sites from four different
types of locations: (1) a day care or controlled intersection with a signal light; (2) county
or city health departments, welfare, or social service offices; (3) hospitals or pediatric
offices; (4) shopping centers and fast food establishments.

Where it was feasible, local observers were utilized because they were familiar with the
diversity of people in the area and could determine the most appropriate site locations.
Previous observers were employed when available to promote consistency. Additional
information was collected for each car. These data were the driver’s gender, the time of
day, the day of week, the weather during the time period of the observation, and whether
or not the driver was wearing a seat belt.

Each surveyor was given a checklist for making observations. Locations were observed
for 40-minute periods and surveyors were instructed to skip cars when they were unsure
of the observation. The following instructors were given to the surveyors: (1) Record the
use of vehicles only with children as passengers. (2) Observe all children under the age
of five. Devices designed to be rear facing are recorded as infant seats. Devices
designed to be forward facing devices are recorded as toddler seats. (3) Correct use of an
infant restraint is determined if the seat installed is facing the rear of the vehicle, along
with proper use of the harness system and a compatible vehicular restraint system. (4)
Correct use of a toddler seat is determined if a harness and/or shield apparatus in the
forward facing position protected the toddler. (5) Proper booster seat use is determined
when the vehicular restraint system was correct for the size of the child.

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 RESTRAINT USAGES OF CHILDREN AND ADULTS

There were children in 4,261 cars observed during the survey period. These cars
contained a total of 6,429 children under the age of 5, in 33 municipalities.

In Table 2, information is provided on the type of location, the number of children

observed and whether they were restrained. It should be noted that none of the locations
are definitive of that type of location, but only provide some indication of the level of
use. Also, the overall calculated child restraint usage rate for Mississippi was found to be
75.0%.

Table 2: Child Restraint Use by Type of Location

Not Using Using Total Percent Using
Type of Location
Restraints Restraints Observations Restraints (%)
1. Fast Food 219 584 803 72.7 %
2. Large Shopping Mall 52 46 98 46.9 %
3. Grocery Store 133 380 513 74.1 %
4 Daycare of Child Learning Center 186 808 994 81.3 %
5. Health Dept. or Human Resources 140 273 413 66.1 %
6. Medical Care Complex 93 299 392 76.3 %
7. Playground, Park, Museum or Zoo 117 335 452 74.1 %
8. Small Shopping Center or Wal-Mart 195 673 868 77.5 %
9. Discount or Dollar Store 43 49 92 53.3 %
10. Street Intersection 320 789 1,109 71.1 %
11. Church or Church Nursery 40 385 425 90.6 %
12. Service Station 28 40 68 58.8 %
13. Restaurant 37 98 135 72.6 %
14. Post Office 1 17 18 94.4 %
15. Bank 1 27 28 96.4 %
Totals 1,605 4,803 6,408 75.0 %

In Table 3, the percentage of drivers using seat belts by gender is presented. Of the
drivers observed, 70.3% of the female drivers were belted while only 61.3% of the male
drivers used their seat belts. Overall, 67.6% of the adults observed were belted.

Table 3: Seat Belt Usage Status for Drivers

Using Not Using Total Percent Using
Gender
Seat Belt Seat Belt Observations Seat Belts (%)
1. Male 801 506 1,307 61.3 %
2. Female 2,068 872 2,940 70.3 %
Totals 2,869 1,378 4,247 67.6 %

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 CHILD RESTRAINT USE BY SEATING POSITION OF CHILD

It is known that the safest place for a child to be restrained, or for that matter to ride
unrestrained, is on the back seat of a car. It would therefore be expected that adults
putting children in the back seat of a car would also have more awareness of the
importance of using child restraints. The seating position, as well as whether the child
was restrained, was recorded in the present survey. As expected children on the back seat
of automobiles were restrained at a higher rate than were those on the front seat. Children
in the back seat were restrained at a rate of 76.9% while children on the front seat were
restrained at a rate of 69.9%

Table 4: Child Restraint by Position of Child

Not Restrained Restrained Total
Seating Position
Count Percent (%) Count Percent (%) Count Percent (%)
1. Front Seat 523 30.1 % 1,212 69.9 % 1,735 27.0 %
2. Back Seat 1,082 23.1 % 3,599 76.9 % 4,681 73.0 %
Totals 1,605 25.0 % 4,811 75.0 % 6,416 100.0 %

CHILD RESTRAINT USE BY SEATING POSITION OF CHILD

AND GENDER OF DRIVER

Male drivers were slightly more likely to place a child on the front seat than were female
drivers. Children in cars driven by male drivers were placed on the front seat of the car
29.5% of the time as compared to 25.9% when the driver of the vehicle was female.
However, female drivers who placed their children on the front seat were much more
likely to use child restraints than were male drives with children on the front seat. Only
63.4% of the children on the front seat were restrained when the driver was male, while
73.4% of the children in the front seat of cars driven by females were restrained.
However, children placed on the front seat were more likely to be unrestrained regardless
of the sex of the driver. Interestingly, male and female drivers choosing to place their
children on the back seat were fairly comparable in restraining the children. The data
suggests three out of four Mississippi males and females buckle up children when placing
them in the back seat. Obviously educational efforts directed at placing children on back
seat have had some effect. Refer to Table 5 on the next page for more details.

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Table 5: Child Restraint by Position of Child by Gender of Driver

MALES
Not Restrained Restrained Total
Seating Position
Count Percent (%) Count Percent (%) Count Percent (%)
1. Front Seat 217 36.6 % 376 63.4 % 593 29.5 %
2. Back Seat 346 24.4 % 1,073 75.6 % 1,419 70.5 %
Totals 563 28.0 % 1,449 72.0 % 2,012 100.0 %

FEMALES
Not Restrained Restrained Total
Seating Position

1. Front Seat 302 26.6 % 834 73.4 % 1,136 25.9 %

2. Back Seat 733 22.5 % 2,518 77.5 % 3,251 74.1 %
Totals 1,035 23.6 % 3,352 76.4 % 4,387 100.0 %

CONCLUSION

Child restraint use in Mississippi was found to be 75.0% for the year 2006. This is a
slightly positive jump compared to the rates found in the last three years – 2003 (70%),
2004 (71%) and 2005 (68.3%). Over time, the effort toward increasing and improving
child restraint use has been both extensive and intensive. There is also little doubt that
having a primary child restraint law has made a significant impact on the high use of
child restraints in Mississippi. Also, the new 2006 primary seat belt law for all front seat
passengers could be an influential factor in the usage rate increase. Nevertheless,
Mississippi is moving in the right direction with regard to child passenger safety, and
perhaps with continued education and enforcement child restraint usage rates could be
brought to an even higher level.

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 Please Buckle Up Your Child

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