Most people place their child's car seat on the left of the back seat - on the right in left-hand drive cars - so that they can easily keep an eye on the child. Now a study carried out by Michael Kallan and colleagues, from Pennsylvania, suggests that the centre of the back seat is the safest place.
They found that children sitting in the centre rear have a 43% lower risk of injury in an accident than children sitting to one side. The research analysed data on child occupants of motor vehicle accidents from 1998 to 2006 based on insurance claims and a telephone survey.
The analysis included children from birth to age three who were seated in a child-restraint system in the rear seat of motor vehicles (model year 1990 or newer) that were involved in a crash in 16 states in the USA.
The results showed that the passenger side rear seat was the most popular position for the baby or child's car seat (41%) followed by the left (driver's side) rear seat (31%) and centre seat (28%).
Researchers also found use of the centre position decreased as the child got older. For example, 39% of baby car seats for infants under age one were placed in the centre rear seat vs. 18% of child car seats for three-year-olds, regardless of any additional passengers in the rear seat.
