Child Booster Seat Community Campaign

The Child Booster Seat Community Campaign encourages parents to use booster seats for children who have outgrown car seats, but who are not large enough for an adult seat belt. Car crashes are the leading cause of death for children between the ages of 4 and 8. Seat belts that do not fit properly will not protect a child in a car crash; booster seats protect from injury better than lap and shoulder belts alone. Through this community campaign, pamphlets, television, radio, and print media promote proper booster seat usage with the slogan, "Is Your Child Read for a Seat Belt? Think Again!" The campaign provides a website, educational programs, and a resource kit for health care providers and preschool employees. Through the program, educational materials are provided to parents with information about how to use booster seats properly. Brochures, tip sheets, and educational programs increase parental confidence and knowledge in choosing and using booster seats.

The goal of this program is to increase booster seat use among children aged 4 to 8 years.

A prospective, nonrandomized, controlled community intervention trial compared four intervention communities to eight control sites. Fifteen months after the start of the campaign, the increase in booster seat use was significantly greater (p = 0.008) in the intervention communities (from 13.3% to 26.1%) than the intervention communities (17.3% to 20.2%).