FINAL REPORT

2004 MISSISSIPPI CHILD RESTRAINT SURVEY

Prepared for:

The Office of Highway Safety,

Division of Public Safety Planning,
Mississippi Department of Public Safety

November 2004

Prepared By:
James W. Landrum, David R. Parrish and Jean Mann
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.

The key factor in the number of death and crippling injuries for Mississippi’s children is not

dues to measles.

BACKGROUND

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. The surveys are not truly scientific, but do provide an over all 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, 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.

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PROJECT METHODOLOGY

The current child restraint survey was conducted in 31 Mississippi municipalities at 269

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. Sample cities make up 29% the states total population of 2,881,281.

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

Number Total Number Percent City

of Of of Population
Locations Observations Total Observations
1.Brandon 8 244 3.6 18,065
2.Brookhaven 8 94 1.4 9,810
3.Canton 9 267 4.0 12,856
4.Cleveland 8 182 2.7 13,184
5.Clinton 8 222 3.3 24,207
6.Columbus 8 122 1.8 24,959
7.Corinth 8 142 2.1 14,083
8.Gautier 8 133 2.0 16,753
9. Greenville 8 92 1.4 39,521
10.Greenwood 6 260 3.9 17,594
11.Grenada 8 206 3.1 14,649
12.Gulfort 5 63 0.9 71,810
13.Hattiesburg 8 87 1.3 46,664
14.Indianola 8 109 1.6 11,562
145Jackson 28 1348 20.1 179,599
16.Laurel 8 64 1.0 18,044
17.Long Beach 2 30 0.4 16,938
18.Madison 8 288 4.3 15,869
19.McComb 8 354 5.3 13,127
20.Meridian 8 200 3.0 39,559
21.Moss Point 8 218 3.2 15,327
22.Natchez 8 190 2.8 17,621
23.Ocean Springs 8 264 3.9 17,443
24.Oxford 7 112 1.7 12,761
25.Pascagoula 8 50 0.7 25,865
26.Pearl 10 327 4.9 22,824
27.Ridgeland 8 244 3.6 21,435
28.Starkville 8 134 2.0 22,419
29.Tupelo 8 152 2.3 35,297
30. Vicksburg 8 186 2.8 26,005
31.Yazoo City 8 330 4.9 12,098
259 6,714 100 847,948

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 Due to the size of Jackson, data were collected from 28 sites within the city. Although

20 percent of the observations were made in Jackson, the population of Jackson represents

over 20 percent of the populations of the sample cities. Using the population figures in the

2000 census, 29 of 37 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’s population

dropped from over 10,000 in the 1990 census to slightly under 10,000 in the 2000 census.

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 vehicle observed. 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

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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 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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DISCUSSION

There were children in 4,220 cars observed during the survey period. These cars

contained a total of 6,714 children under the age of 5, in 31 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. In

general, large shopping malls and discount centers are the locations of lowest child restraint use.

Church nurseries appear to be locations of very high child restraint use.

Table 2: Child Restraint Use by Type of Location

Not %
Using Total
Using Using
Fast Foods 269 657 926 71
Large Shopping Mall 99 137 236 58
Grocery Store 187 369 556 66
Daycare or Child Learning Center 169 599 768 78
Health Department or Human Resources 86 180 266 68
Medical Care Complex or Physician's Office 140 362 502 72
Playground, Park, Museum or Zoo 51 164 215 76
Small Shopping Center or Wal Mart 255 599 854 70
Discount or Dollar Store 35 59 94 63
Street Intersection 517 953 1470 65
Church, Church Nursery 83 562 645 87
Service Station 11 55 66 83
Restaurant 27 73 100 73
Bank 2 14 16 88
1931 4783 6714 71

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 In Table 3, the percentage of drivers using seat belts by gender is presented. Of the

drivers observed, 66% of the female drivers were belted while only 61% of the male drivers used

their seat belts. Overall, 64% of the adults observed were belted. Interestingly the percentage of

drivers belted is almost identical (64% to 63%) to the belt use found in the overall seatbelt

surveys in 2004.

Table 3: Restraint Use of Driver by Gender

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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

74% while children on the front seat were restrained at only a rate of 63%

Table 4: Child Restraint by Position of Child

Restrained Not Restrained Total

Seating Position Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent

Front Seat 1199 63 697 37 1896 29

Back Seat 3577 74 1231 26 4808 71

Total 4776 71 1928 29 6704 100.0

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 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 32 % of

the time as compared to 28% 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 58% of the children on the front seat

were restrained when the driver was male, while over 66% of the children in cars driven by

females were restrained. Children placed on the front seat were much 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.

Children placed on the back seat were restrained a much higher percentage of time than were

those whose driver placed them on the back seat, regardless of the gender of the driver.

Obviously educational efforts directed at placing children on back seat have had some effect.

These findings are presented in Table 5.

Table 5: Use of Child Restraints by Position of Child by Gender of Driver

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 MALE DRIVERS

Using restraint Not using restraint Total

Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent

367 58 257 42 624 32

Front Seat
1107 72 436 28 1543 68
Back Seat
1474 68 693 32 2167 100.0
Totals
FEMALE DRIVERS

Using restraint Not using restraint Total

Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent

Front Seat 822 66 426 34 1248 28

Back Seat 2414 76 757 24 3171 72

Totals 3236 73 1183 27 4419 100.0

CONCLUSIONS

Child Restraint Use in Mississippi was found to be 71% for the year 2004. This is almost

identical to the rate found in 2001 and 2002, and 2003, showing that child restraint usage is

being sustained. In short, the effort toward increasing and improving child restraint use has been

both extensive and intensive.

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