Today, a child is involved in a vehicle crash every 33 seconds in the United States. However, when they are, child safety seats usually provide protection. This represents a remarkable sea change since the mid-20th century. Between 1975 and 2022, child fatalities in road accidents declined by 61%. While it is easy to take something commonplace like children’s car seats for granted, their normalization is an under-recognized public health achievement. Behind this success were a group of politically savvy characters whose relentless focus on improving the designs, awareness, and usage of child safety seats is an important model of citizen activism and public health advocacy.
The postwar economic boom built suburbs and federal highways and made family cars more affordable. But it also increased risks for child passengers. Typically, children rode in parents’ laps, or on their own in back seats without any safety protections. In 1965, lawyer and advocate Ralph Nader published Unsafe at Any Speed, detailing safety concerns about automobiles. Nader’s advocacy led to the creation of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). It also spurred a wider movement for legislated consumer protections.
Read More: Making Safer Drivers
Within this movement were Physicians for Automotive Safety (PAS), a group of doctors who formed via a “dignified protest” at the 1965 New York Auto Show. The 30 members called on other doctors to advocate against the “epidemic” of automobile accidents. They called for “preventive countermeasures” to avert injuries, including for children, laying the foundation for a robust child passenger safety movement.
The issue gained broader recognition through pioneering motoring journalist Julie Candler. Writing for Women’s Day in 1970, she reflected on the 58,000 children under 5 years old who had been killed or injured in car crashes over the previous year. Candler wrote…
