Acad Pediatr. 2021 Mar 25:S1876-2859(21)00156-X. doi: 10.1016/j.acap.2021.03.018. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Ride-share services are increasingly used for transportation, but little is known about ride-share use and passenger safety behaviors among parents of children for whom child restraint systems (CRS) are recommended. Our objectives were to characterize ride-share use with children and examine passenger restraint use in ride-share.
METHODS: A cross-sectional survey, distributed to the TurkPrime Parent Panel using Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk), was designed to assess ride-share and passenger safety behaviors. After screening, adult parents of minor children were invited to complete the full survey about transportation behaviors. Descriptive and chi-square statistics were calculated. Logistic regression was conducted to test for characteristics associated with suboptimal restraint use in ride-share.
RESULTS: Of 655 screened parents, 162 had no minor children, 43 had incomplete responses or failed an attention check question. Of 450 parents with minor children, 309 (68.7%) used ride-share in the past year and 73.1% of parents who use ride-share did so with their child(ren). Ride-share use with children was most common on vacation. Among parents of children age ≤ 8 years, 49% reported always using their child’s CRS when traveling in ride-share. Suboptimal restraint use in rideshare was associated with child age (3-8 years compared with <3 years), larger family size, and attitudes and behaviors that tolerate suboptimal CRS use.
CONCLUSION: This study identifies an opportunity to promote use of CRS in ride-share services. Child passenger safety messaging, education, policy, enforcement of legislation, and CRS design will need to be adapted as ride-share services become more widely adopted.
PMID:33775920 | DOI:10.1016/j.acap.2021.03.018
