Westat Tools Help Protect Child Passengers

Vehicle crashes are a major cause of injuries and fatalities among children, a problem safety advocates in the U.S. acknowledge and work to minimize by heightening awareness of how caregivers can keep children safe when traveling in vehicles. September 15-21, 2024, marks Child Passenger Safety Week, an important observance dedicated to this cause. In honor of this week, Westat experts in child passenger safety, GIS, and statistical research have collaborated to share information about our new Seat Check Coverage Map, and the National Digital Car Seat Check Form (NDCF) Dashboard.

Seat Check Coverage Map Saves Lives

Where are car seat checks happening, and what is the ratio of checks to children in a geographic area? Westat’s interdisciplinary team, including GIS experts, developed the Seat Check Coverage Map, which pulls American Community Survey (ACS) data from the 2020 Census to provide this information to child passenger safety advocates, researchers, Certified Child Passenger Safety Technicians, program coordinators, and car seat and automobile manufacturers.

“This new tool is game-changing,” said Westat’s Elizabeth Petraglia, PhD. “It allows decisionmakers at the national, state, and local levels to see where resources and personnel are – and are not – helping them to focus efforts in geographic areas that need those resources to help reduce child passenger injuries and fatalities.”

Both tools have been well-received by partners, clients, and practitioners. “We truly believe our partnership with the NDCF helps us stand out from the crowd,” said Brian Rauscher, Director of Operations for Safe Start  “While other organizations talk about what they’re doing and the impact they’re hoping to make, at Safe Start, we aren’t just talking about the impact we hope to make; with the NDCF, we can prove it.” He notes that this helps Safe Start fund its mission, saying, “Thanks to the NDCF, we can access all our child passenger safety data in real-time in incredible fidelity. This allows us to empirically show that Safe Start’s Rural Education Outreach (REO) program has fundamentally changed the way rural families in the Northwest access child passenger safety services.”

A Spotlight on Racial Disparities

Data suggest racial inequities in the number of child car seat safety checks, which could lead to disparities in child passenger safety. By merging the data on car safety seat checks and population data from the ACS, Westat and our partners are providing practitioners and policymakers with the means to address and close these gaps, making traveling in passenger vehicles safer for all children.

“We can’t fix problems and inequities we don’t know about,” said Adele Polson, a Westat Senior Research Associate for Social Policy and Economic Research. “This tool gives child passenger safety experts the data they need to effect change, and decisionmakers the detailed and timely information they need to address these inequities.”

Sharing with Child Safety Professionals

Polson recently shared the coverage map with attendees at August’s Kidz in Motion Conference, where it was met with wide enthusiasm. “Child passenger safety experts are hungry for this kind of data,” she said. “Like myself and my Westat colleagues, they are passionate about keeping kids safe on the road and reducing injuries in vehicle crashes. We’re excited to share this integrated data with them and the larger public and hope it leads to further innovation in the industry.”

Polson plans to be on site at the 2025 Lifesavers Conference on Roadway Safety, and will continue to share this resource through webinars within the child passenger safety community.

Learn More About Our Child Passenger Safety Research

Collecting Car Seat Use Data to Help Save Lives

How can we effectively boost child passenger safety?

National Digital Car Seat Check Form Dashboard (YouTube Video)

Ride Share Safety: Are Kids Using Proper Restraints?

Why aren’t child car seat inspection stations more widely used?

Why do adults make errors when installing and using car seats?