Buckled Parents Buckle Their Babies, Colorado study finds

What's the best predictor of child seat use? Parental seat belt use, according to research conducted by Colorado State University. The study found "strikingly different" rates of restraint use for children, depending on whether their parents were buckled or not. According to the Colorado Department of Transportation, car seat use for infants and toddlers is 69 percent in the front seat and 89 percent in the back seat when the driver is buckled. Infants and toddlers riding with an unbuckled driver had use rates as low as 28 percent in the front seat and 66 percent in the back seat. When the children are older, the correlation still holds true: Belted drivers have belted children nearly 85 percent of the time in the front seat and nearly 77 percent in the back seat. Children of unbuckled drivers have belt use rates of only 19 percent in the front and back seats. The study was released in connection with Colorado's statewide "Click it or ticket" seat belt enforcement program.