In both fatal and nonfatal crashes, a driver being unrestrained is a strong predictor of the child passenger also being unrestrained, according to a recent study. Policy and regulation to better ensure that drivers are properly restrained (eg, expanding primary seat-belt laws to all states) may serve as effective means for increasing rates of proper child-occupant-restraint use. Researchers analyzed 2011–2015 Fatality Analysis Reporting System and National Automotive Sampling System data and included vehicles with a young passenger (aged ≤19 years) in a crash. Driver and passenger characteristics were compared by using bivariate analyses separately for fatal and nonfatal crashes. Logistic regression analyses were performed on a combined data set to predict passenger restraint use. They found:

• In unadjusted bivariate models, unrestrained drivers had a higher probability of having an unrestrained passenger across all passenger age groups for both fatal and nonfatal crashes.
• In multivariate logistic regression models that included both fatal and nonfatal crashes and were adjusted for several driver and passenger characteristics, unrestrained drivers had a higher risk of having an unrestrained young passenger across all age groups.