Child safety restraint patterns in Moldova

Abstract

Objective

The Republic of Moldova has one of the European region’s highest road traffic injury rates and also has an increase in motorization and exposure of children as vehicle passengers. This study describes child restraint use, and parents’ knowledge and attitudes toward child restraint based on observations in Chisinau, the country’s capital and largest city. The study aims to describe the use of child restraints and to compare data with existing standards of good practice.

Methods

An observational study on child safety restraint use was conducted in 2018. Observational sites included 22 early education institutions, where drivers (n = 611) and child passengers (n = 710) were observed. Observations were conducted as motor vehicles parked or pulled to a stop near the early education institutions and included a driver survey on knowledge and attitudes toward restraint legislation and child safety behavior.

Results

Of the 710 child passengers observed, 462 (65.1%) were appropriately restrained, 145 (20.4%) were seated in restraints inappropriate for the child and 103 (14.5%) of children were unrestrained. Younger children (0-3 year-old) were 7 times more likely to be properly restrained compared with children with ages between 4 and 6 (OR 1.92, 95% CI 1.15 to 3.22). Two-thirds out of 609 observed drivers with full study data, N = 431 (70,8%), knew about the mandatory legislation on using child safety restraints in the Republic of Moldova. The drivers using child safety restraints responded that they used them because of their safety features, and the major reason for nonuse was high price/affordability.

Conclusion

This study, the first to document child safety restraint use among children, indicates that much progress has been made, in that the majority of children are restrained and most drivers of children are aware of safety policies. However, progress can be made to increase knowledge and motivation to safely transport children, and to ensure safety seats are affordable and available. These data will be an important foundation on which to advocate for increased safety activities, child restraint policies, educational approaches in Moldova and to monitor progress over time.

Keywords:

• Safety restraints
• children
• driver
• motor vehicle occupant
• road injury prevention
• surveillance

Acknowledgment

The authors gratefully acknowledge all members of the iCREATE and INITIatE grants for their work on the project overall and for the contributions of project documentation used in this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

The authors do not have any financial interests or benefits to declare.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author (SC), upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This publication was funded by the NIH-Fogarty International Trauma Training Program “iCREATE: Increasing Capacity for Research in Eastern Europe” and “INITIATE: International Collaboration to Increase Traumatic Brain Injury in Europe”, both at the University of Iowa and Babes-Bolyai University (National Institutes of Health, Fogarty International Center 2D43TW007261 and 5R21NS098850).