Parents’ Knowledge on Child Restraint Use in Passenger Vehicle

Child passenger safety in road traffic accident is a growing issue around the world. Malaysia has just enacted the law of using child restraint system (CRS), thus it is crucial to determine level of knowledge and awareness among Malaysian driver’s and their practice of using CRS. A cross sectional survey was conducted among parent drivers of children aged 0–10 years old at selected shopping mall and daycare center in Malaysia to assess their CRS awareness and practice. The survey was distributed among 320 parents of age between 21 and 59 years old. Initially, Mann-Whitney U test were used to compare awareness score with CRS use. Later, logistic regression analysis was conducted to analyze the comparison of CRS use with age, education level and total knowledge score. 45.6% respondents practice the use of CRS for their children and the nonparametric test of two independent samples showed a significant relationship among the respondents’ CRS awareness level towards its usage. In addition, logistic regression showed significant relationship on CRS use towards parents’ age, education and awareness level. The results show that the use of CRS is higher as compared to previous roadside observation and parents’ age and education level are significantly correlated with the use or CRS. This study will further helps in the needs of developing injury prevention interventions focusing on disseminating information on the advantages and the disadvantages of using CRS while at the same time encouraging the use of CRS.