Why Some Children Die More Often in Crashes—and What Surgeons Can Do to Change This

“Child was not properly restrained.” Almost every pediatric surgeon has heard these words during a trauma activation, and we all have the same visceral reaction. Why? In 2023, 559 children in America died in a motor vehicle crash and 34% of them were unrestrained [1]. Despite the growth of the child passenger safety restraint industry, increased enforcement of traffic safety laws, and development of injury prevention programs focused on car seat safety there are still some children at an increased risk of death from motor vehicle crashes due to sociodemographic factors.