Child passenger injury risk in sibling versus non-sibling teen driver crashes: a US study
- 1Center for Injury Research and Prevention (formerly TraumaLink), The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
- 2Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
- Correspondence to: Dr T M Senserrick The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, 34th St, Civic Center Blvd, 3535, 10th Floor, Suite 1024, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; senserrick{at}email.chop.edu
- Accepted 2 March 2007
Abstract
Several international jurisdictions allow family exemptions to graduated driver licensing passenger restrictions. The objective of this research was to examine differences in injury risk to US child passengers in crashes involving sibling versus non-sibling teen drivers, and to compare outcomes with crashes involving adult drivers. Insurance claim and telephone survey data were collected on 16 233 child passengers (representing 289 329 children) in 17 US jurisdictions. There was a trend toward higher restraint non-use by child passengers in the non-sibling group than in the sibling group (9.6% vs 4.7%; p = 0.08). Children in the sibling group had a 40% lower risk of injury than those in the non-sibling group (adjusted OR 0.60, 95% CI 0.40 to 0.90); however, injury risk was higher in the sibling group than in children traveling with adults (adjusted OR 1.57, 95% CI 1.09 to 2.26). Child passengers riding with sibling teen drivers may be safer than those riding with non-sibling teens, but not as safe as those riding with adult drivers.
Footnotes
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Competing interests: None.
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The results presented in this report are solely our interpretation and are not necessarily the views of State Farm.
The sponsor contributed to data collection. The sponsor did not contribute to the design, data management, analysis and interpretation of the data, or to preparation, review or approval of the manuscript.
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TMS, MJK and FKW had full access to all of the data in the study and take full responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. TMS, MJK, FKW were involved on conception and design of the study, analysis and interpretation of data, drafting of the manuscript, critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content and provided final approval for publication.
