As children age injury risk heightens.

• Position: Automobile Accidents - Brief article

As children age, their risk of injury or death in a motor vehicle crash increases significantly due to improper child restraint use, according to a joint report issued by The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and State Farm Insurance, Bloomington, III.

Key factors for this heightened risk are moving youngsters from child restraints to adult seat belts and then to the front seat prematurely. In fact, the report found that 46% of kids ages four to eight were restrained improperly in adult seat belts, making them three times more likely to be injured in a crash than younger infants and toddlers.

"There is a crucial step many parents are missing: Kids need to use a booster seat from around age four until they're 4'9" tall," advises Kristy Arbogast, director of field engineering at The Children's Hospital. "As children get older, their risk of being injured in a crash increases, primarily because they're being moved from the protection of child seats...