The relationship between Brazilian legislation on the mandatory use of restraint devices for zero- to four-year-old children in vehicles and the numbers of injured and dead in traffic accidents

Abstract

The scope of this article is to address the relationship between mandatory restraint devices and hospitalizations and deaths of zero- to four-year-old age children in traffic accidents in Brazil. Based on the mandatory use of child restraint devices for children up to 4 years of age under Brazilian traffic legislation in 2010, the authors apply data from the DataSUS and Denatran databases to analyze the time series of hospitalizations and deaths of zero- to four-year-old age children in traffic accidents between September 2005 and August 2015. Two cut-off sample periods were examined, the first consisting of an analysis from 2005 to 2015, which was subsequently subdivided into two samples, namely before and after the requirement. The results of both cut-off sample periods suggest that demands concerning the use of restraint devices led to decreased hospitalizations and deaths of children due to traffic accidents in the zero- to four-year-old age group, with a prevalence of decreased rates of hospitalization over deaths.

Key words:
Traffic accidents; Children; Restraint devices